Raoul Wallenberg Biography: Part 7 (Final)

Please note:

• Read Part 6.

• The section below includes sensitive material from the Holocaust.

• At the end of this part is a PDF of the biography in full.

Hero

“Thank you very much for your letter of the 13th. When I read the first sentence I suddenly had an urge to ask you to tell me something about my father. Preferably in a letter, so that I could always carry it with me. I have always half subconsciously felt very much his inferior. In the pictures I have he looks so good and honest and self-sacrificing, and I feel like a bad substitute.”¹ – Raoul Wallenberg to his grandfather, 1936

Raoul returned to Sweden from Mandatory Palestine in the summer of 1936 to complete his compulsory military service. Upon its end, he began looking for work and, on a deeper level, a purpose, venturing into the uncertainty of career decisions without his grandfather's guidance and connections for the first time. Though Raoul bore the Wallenberg name, it had been Gustav’s stature, not merely the family lineage, that had opened doors. Advancement required more than talent in Raoul’s world. Sponsors paved paths. And his most influential one was now gone.

Also, to his surprise, having the freedom he had yearned for to make his own decisions had failed to bring fulfillment. Raoul started a business selling a new type of zipper fastener he patented. Buyers weren't interested. He tried to market a wine cork that could be removed from a bottle without a corkscrew. This time, the winemakers weren't interested. Each venture faltered or staggered along. The ideas were creative, but none of them took root. He took jobs selling coffee, then sardines. Still, no worthy success. Years passed in a blur of starts and stops, leaving Raoul increasingly frustrated, his many talents mismatched with the opportunities before him.

Still, Raoul remained Raoul - charming, curious, and hopeful. He loved hosting people, often throwing festive parties that stretched late into the night in his modest Stockholm apartment. Music, especially jazz, like one of Raoul's favorites, Glenn Miller's "Farewell Blues," filled the rooms. So did conversation. He read widely, studied political developments, and took a growing interest in understanding the Nazi regime. And he continued to look for opportunities during the challenging time.

In early 1941, Raoul met a Hungarian man named Kálmán Lauer. Lauer had recently founded the Central European Trading Company, a small import-export business headquartered in Stockholm. The company specialized in importing and exporting food and delicacies, including preserved goods, oils, dried fruits, and Hungarian paprika, between Sweden and Central Europe. Lauer needed a partner as business was becoming more challenging to operate. Being Jewish, he faced many restrictions in traveling around Nazi-occupied territories. He needed someone who could move more freely.

Raoul fit the profile. He was fluent in multiple languages, understood foreign markets and developing relationships with people from other countries, and had experience living and traveling abroad. His time in Mandatory Palestine reassured Lauer that Raoul could be trusted to want and be able to work with a Jewish business owner. And like most who met him, Lauer simply liked Raoul. More than just having a business relationship, they could also have a friendship.

Raoul joined the firm within a month and began traveling almost immediately, overseeing shipments, meeting with officials, and cultivating relationships while navigating the labyrinth of wartime bureaucracy. These trips also gave him something else: a firsthand view of the changes taking place in Europe under Nazi rule.

As Raoul worked with Lauer and saw what was happening, he felt compelled to help. One evening, after watching a film with his sister about a professor who risks his life to help Jewish friends escape Nazi Germany, Raoul turned to her and said, “This is something I would like to do.”²