Raoul Wallenberg Biography: Part 4

Note: Read Part III.

Chapter 5: Haifa, Mandatory Palestine

“The Jews are firmly convinced that all will work out. They are used to suffering worse things than a financial crisis, so they don’t care about the risks and, besides, they have no choice except to settle here.”¹

- Raoul Wallenberg, observations from Mandatory Palestine, 1936

Raoul returned to Sweden after graduating college in March 1935 with mixed feelings. He had grown quite fond of America. Yet he missed his family and was excited to spend time with them. He was also eager to seek architectural work as he settled back into life at home. Doing so would prove challenging, although certainly not due to a lack of effort. While finding a job didn't pan out, Raoul did receive some glowing media reviews after placing second in a contest to design a public swimming pool.

But the time at home would be brief. Gustav had mapped out his grandson's next chapter in life - he wanted Raoul to continue seeing the world and learning how people and businesses made money. He would later explain in a letter to Raoul:

"I finally urged you to leave because I didn’t want you to get too stuck in some artistic architectural activity. I want you to be better trained in the art of business techniques (a good word), so that you would have an opportunity to learn how to earn money — crass, I know — but you will never achieve a satisfactory kind of self-sufficiency unless you become financially independent."²

Gustav's vision for Raoul’s life was becoming clear: he wanted his grandson to build a career in international commerce, ideally in banking. To that end, Gustav arranged for Raoul to work at a commerce company in South Africa.

Life in South Africa wasn’t particularly appealing at first. Raoul felt bored and didn't enjoy the work he was doing. After a month, he switched jobs. From then on, life improved. And he received glowing reviews from his bosses. One wrote about Raoul:

“I have found him to be an excellent organiser and have put his abilities to negotiate to great use. With his boundless energy and vitality, he is an impressive creative force and he has the ability to apply his lucid and original mind to all manner of problems that have appeared.”³

Another wrote:

“Tremendous energy and remarkable gift of quickly and thoroughly acquainting himself with whatever he sets his mind to.”⁴

Raoul was happy. He was enjoying life in South Africa and wanted to continue working in the firm. But Gustav wanted him to move to continue his global training with a banker friend in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine. As with most decisions, Raoul acquiesced. He set off again.

What came next would stay with him for the rest of his life.

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Mandatory Palestine had, for much of its history, been ripe with chaos. Established as the British Mandate for Palestine in the early 1920s, when Britain took control of the region from the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I, the land became a contentious battleground for who should govern. In theory, the mandate was to establish a part of the territory as an official Jewish homeland. This was the result of an active political Zionist movement that began in the late 19th century to re-establish Jewish nationhood in their ancestral lands. The mandate, however, did not stipulate the boundaries or the official form that this Jewish land would take.