A monument to

Raoul Wallenberg Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945)He is presumed to have died in 1947, although the circumstances of his death are not clear and this date has been disputed. Some reports claim he was alive years later. 31 J ...

stands at Great Cumberland Place in London's

Marble Arch The Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is toda ...

district, outside the

Western Marble Arch Synagogue The Western Marble Arch (WMA) Synagogue is a synagogue, Jewish place of worship in central London. The WMA is the result of a merger between the Western and the Marble Arch Synagogues, with the former congregation dating back to 1761. The current ...

and near the Swedish Embassy. The 10 ft bronze monument was sculpted by Philip Jackson and is a larger-than-life representation of Wallenberg, standing against a bronze wall made up of 100,000 ''Schutzpässe'', the protective passes used by Wallenberg to rescue Hungarian Jews. The monument was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on 26 February 1997, in a ceremony attended by the

President of Israel The president of the State of Israel ( he, נְשִׂיא מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Nesi Medinat Yisra'el, or he, נְשִׂיא הַמְדִינָה, Nesi HaMedina, President of the State) is the head of state of Israel. The posi ...

Ezer Weizman Ezer Weizman (; he, עֵזֶר וַיצְמָן ''Ezer Vaytsman''; 15 June 1924 – 24 April 2005) was the seventh President of Israel, first elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1998. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Ai ...

, the

Secretary General of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-ge ...

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...

, and survivors of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. Annan also gave a speech at the ceremony. The statue was unveiled during the second day of Weizman's state visit to the United Kingdom. The ceremony was also attended by

Sigmund Sternberg Sir Sigmund Sternberg ( hu, Sternberg Zsigmond; 2 June 1921 – 18 October 2016) was a Hungarian-British philanthropist, interfaith campaigner, businessman and Labour Party donor. Early life Sternberg was born in 1921 in Budapest, Hungary. He ...

, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Wallenberg Appeal and Robert Davis, the Lord Mayor of Westminster. The statue was described as a monument at the time of its unveiling rather than a memorial, as Wallenberg's family believed that there was no evidence for his death.Alan Hamilton. "Statue of war hero unveiled by Queen.", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', London, 27 February 1997, p. 14. Wallenberg would have been aged 84 in 1997. A second British monument to Wallenberg stands near the Welsh National War Memorial in Alexandra Gardens, in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales.

References

External links

* {{Public art in London, portrait sculpture 1997 establishments in the United Kingdom 1997 sculptures Bronze sculptures in the City of Westminster Monuments and memorials in London Statues of activists Outdoor sculptures in London Cultural depictions of Raoul Wallenberg Sculptures by Philip Jackson Wallenberg, Raoul Wallenberg, Raoul