ANN ARBOR—Nina Lagergren, Raoul Wallenberg‘s half-sister, will reflect upon her brother’s childhood, education, and the personal attributes he displayed from an early age in “Raoul Wallenberg Remembered: His Sister Looks Back.” The 10th in a series of annual lectures to honor the 1935 University of Michigan graduate, will be presented Wednesday (Oct. 25) at 7:30 p.m. in Rackham Auditorium, 915 E. Washington St.

[Map of Central Campus, Rackham Building upper left center]

Lagergren will speak of the family’s response when Wallenberg accepted a diplomatic position in Budapest late in World War II. Finally, she will tell of the efforts made after the war by the Swedish government, the Wallenberg family and the Wallenberg Foundation to learn of his fate and to negotiate his release from Soviet prisons.

Lagergren’s daughters, Nane Annan and Mi Wernstedt, will accompany her to Ann Arbor. Annan, wife of the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, will introduce her mother.

Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat who saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews during World War II. A 1935 graduate of the U-M College of Architecture (now the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning), he worked as a foreign representative for a European trading company. During that time he came into contact with many Jewish refugees from Europe. In 1944, at the request of Jewish organizations, the Swedish foreign ministry sent Wallenberg on a rescue mission to Budapest. After reporting to the Soviet headquarters in Budapest on Jan. 17, 1945, all trace of him was lost. Although the Soviets claimed that Wallenberg died in 1947, many testimonies since then have conflicted with this claim, and the results of numerous investigations into his whereabouts have remained inconclusive.

The U-M Raoul Wallenberg Endowment was established in 1985 to commemorate Wallenberg and to recognize those whose own courageous action and/or writings call to mind his extraordinary accomplishments and values.

The Wallenberg Endowment and the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies fund the U-M Raoul Wallenberg Medal and Lecture.

This event is free and open to the public. For further information, contact Lynne Dumas a (734) 647-2644 or [email protected].

Raoul WallenbergMap of Central CampusNane AnnanTaubman College of Architecture and Urban PlanningHorace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies[email protected]