Il a sauvé 100 000 vies avec une feuille de papier, puis il a disparu —Raoul Wallenberg

In July 1944, a 32-year-old man stepped off a train in Budapest. He was neither a soldier, nor a career diplomat, nor a secret agent. He was a Swedish businessman trained in architecture, without titles, without power, and without experience in diplomatic circles. Six months later, he would have helped save tens of thousands of lives, before disappearing forever into the silence of Soviet prisons. This documentary retraces the entire life of Raoul Wallenberg, from his birth in a villa in the Stockholm archipelago to the still-closed archives that hold the secret of his death. We follow the child born three months after his father's death, raised at a distance by a diplomat grandfather who dreamed of making him a citizen of the world. We accompany him through his formative years in France, the United States, South Africa, and Palestine, where he first heard the stories of refugees expelled from Germany. The heart of the story unfolds in a European capital gripped by terror. Following the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, over 400,000 people were deported in less than two months. Budapest became the last major Jewish stronghold in Central Europe still standing. It was there that Wallenberg devised his most unusual weapon: a protective passport devoid of any legal value, designed to resemble an official document, which nevertheless deterred gendarmes, militiamen, and officers. This documentary film examines in detail the practical mechanisms of this rescue: the creation of a humanitarian service employing several hundred people, the buildings placed under foreign ownership, the interventions on the columns of marchers being led toward the Austrian border, the negotiations with Baroness Elisabeth Kemény that enabled the reinstatement of documents canceled by the Arrow Cross government, and the warning sent to the German commander of the city that saved the sealed-off quarter from annihilation. The parallel actions of Swiss consul Carl Lutz, papal nuncio Angelo Rotta, and other representatives of neutral countries are also highlighted, because the story of the rescue of Budapest cannot be summed up by a single name. The final part of the documentary addresses the enigma that has remained unsolved for over eighty years. Arrested in January 1945 by the army that had just liberated the city, Wallenberg disappeared. Official accounts followed one another and contradicted each other, testimonies from former prisoners accumulated, Swedish diplomacy hesitated, and a mother searched for her son for thirty-four years. The various hypotheses put forward by historians are presented here in a balanced manner, without reaching a verdict, clearly distinguishing what is established from what remains conjecture. A well-documented account of individual courage, the strange power of administrative symbols, and what a single determined man can oppose to a machine of extermination. Written and narrated by Étienne Beaumont. This documentary has an educational and historical purpose. It draws on historical research, testimonies, and archival documents, and strives to present disputed points with nuance and impartiality. Original content protected by copyright. Any reproduction, reuse, republication, or distribution, in whole or in part, of this film on any medium whatsoever is prohibited without the prior written permission of the author. Subscribe to the channel to discover new portraits of figures who have shaped history each week. #RaoulWallenberg #Documentary #WorldWarII #History #Budapest