Editing Raoul Wallenberg (section)

==Disappearance==
[[File:Raoul Wallenberg Tel Aviv.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Bronze statue of Raoul Wallenberg in Tel Aviv]]
On 29 October 1944, elements of the [[Steppe Front|2nd Ukrainian Front]] under Marshal [[Rodion Malinovsky]] launched an [[Budapest offensive|offensive against Budapest]]. By late December, the city had been encircled by Soviet forces. Despite this, the German commander of Budapest, [[Obergruppenfuhrer|SS Lieutenant General]] [[Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch]], refused all offers to surrender, setting in motion a protracted and bloody [[siege of Budapest]]. At the height of the fighting, on 17 January 1945, Wallenberg was called to General Malinovsky's headquarters in [[Debrecen]] to answer allegations that he was engaged in espionage.<ref name=WP12232000/><ref>{{cite news |title=Jews in Hungary Helped by Swede; Raoul Wallenberg, Architect, Credited With Leading Rescue of 20,000 From Nazis| page= 12 |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date=26 April 1945 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1945/04/26/archives/jews-in-hungary-helped-by-swede-raoul-wallenberg-architect-credited.html| url-access= subscription}}</ref><ref name=SWRG/> According to the wife of Géza Soós, a ringleader of the Hungarian resistance who worked with Wallenberg, he used the opportunity to try to transport copies of the [[Auschwitz Protocols|Auschwitz Report]] to the interim Hungarian government in Debrecen.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/XQQ5h45z3ZA Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20210414052404/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQQ5h45z3ZA&t=125s Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Cite web| title= Mint a Jézus Krisztus jó vitéze, part 2| date=27 August 2018 | url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQQ5h45z3ZA&t=125s| via= YouTube| publisher= Fundamentum 93 Bt. |access-date= 20 May 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Wallenberg's last recorded words were, "I'm going to Malinovsky's ... whether as a guest or prisoner I do not know yet."<ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,809115,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160310004126/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C809115%2C00.html |title=Well Taken Care Of |newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=18 February 1957 |archive-date=10 March 2016 |access-date=14 February 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Documents recovered in 1993 from previously secret Soviet military archives and published in the Swedish newspaper ''[[Svenska Dagbladet]]'' show that an order for Wallenberg's arrest was issued by [[Ministry of Defense (Soviet Union)|Deputy Commissar for Defence]] (and future [[Soviet Premier]]) [[Nikolai Bulganin]] and transmitted to Malinovsky's headquarters on the day of Wallenberg's disappearance.<ref name="deseretnews">{{cite news|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/271752/SOVIETS-MEMO-ORDERED-WALLENBERGS-ARREST.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023120857/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/271752/SOVIETS-MEMO-ORDERED-WALLENBERGS-ARREST.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 October 2012|title= Soviet's Memo Ordered Wallenberg's Arrest |newspaper=[[Deseret News]] |date=25 January 1993 |access-date=28 June 2014}}</ref> In 2003, a review of Soviet wartime correspondences indicated that [[Vilmos Böhm]], a Hungarian politician who was also a [[Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies|Soviet intelligence]] agent, may have provided Wallenberg's name to [[SMERSH]] as a person to detain for possible involvement in espionage.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://raoulwallenberg.org/heroes/news/news_detail.asp?id=56 |title= Soviet double agent may have betrayed Wallenberg| website= raoulwallenberg.org| publisher= The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070209002900/http://raoulwallenberg.org/heroes/news/news_detail.asp?id=56 |archive-date= 9 February 2007 | agency= [[Reuters]]| date= 12 May 2003| access-date= 14 February 2007}}</ref>

Information about Wallenberg after his detention is mostly speculative; there were many who claimed to have met him during his imprisonment.<ref>See Braham, Randolph (2004): "Rescue Operations in Hungary: Myths and Realities", ''East European Quarterly'' 38(2): 173–203.</ref> Wallenberg was transported by train from Debrecen, through Romania, to [[Moscow]].<ref name=SWRG>{{cite book |url=http://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/3e3f2d0450024d088676560dc3509f05/raoul-wallenberg---report-of-the-swedish-russian-working-group |editor-last1=Palmklint |editor-first1=Ingrid |editor-last2=Larsson |editor-first2=Daniel |title=Raoul Wallenberg: report of the Swedish-Russian working group |series=Ministry for Foreign Affairs. New Series II, 0562-8881; 52 |year=2000 |publisher=Ministry for Foreign Affairs [Utrikesdep.], Regeringskansliet |location=Stockholm |isbn=978-91-7496-230-7 |id={{LIBRIS|7645089}} |access-date=13 February 2007}}</ref> The Soviet authorities may have moved him to Moscow in the hope of exchanging him for [[defectors]] in Sweden.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/scandinavia/01/12/wallenberg.finding/index.html |title=Wallenberg fate shrouded in mystery |publisher=[[CNN]] |date= 12 January 2001 |access-date=14 February 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071026081732/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/scandinavia/01/12/wallenberg.finding/index.html |archive-date=26 October 2007 }}</ref> [[Vladimir Dekanozov]] notified the Swedish government on 16 January 1945 that Wallenberg was under the protection of Soviet authorities. On 21 January 1945, Wallenberg was transferred to [[Lubyanka Building|Lubyanka prison]] and held in cell 123 with fellow prisoner [[Gustav Richter]], who had been a police attaché at the German embassy in Romania. Richter testified in Sweden in 1955 that Wallenberg was interrogated once for about an hour and a half, in early February 1945. On 1 March 1945, Richter was moved from his cell and never saw Wallenberg again.<ref name=ROB>{{cite web |url= http://www.raoulwallenberg.org/who/hero.html |title=A Hero for our Time |access-date= 12 February 2007 |first= Rachel |last= Oestreicher Bernheim | year= 1981 | website= raoulwallenberg.org | publisher= The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070206125138/http://www.raoulwallenberg.org/who/hero.html |archive-date = 6 February 2007|author-link=Rachel Oestreicher Bernheim }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title= Raoul Wallenberg, Life and Work|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/06/world/soviet-turmoil-kgb-chief-to-let-agents-break-silence-about-wallenberg-s-fate.html| quote=The K.G.B. promised today that it would let agents break their vow of silence to help investigate the fate of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who vanished after being arrested by the Soviets in 1945.|newspaper= The New York Times| date=6 September 1991 |access-date= 12 February 2007}}</ref>

On 8 March 1945, Soviet-controlled Hungarian radio announced that Wallenberg and his driver had been murdered on their way to Debrecen, suggesting that they had been killed by the Arrow Cross Party or the [[Gestapo]]. Sweden's foreign minister, [[Östen Undén]], and its ambassador to the [[Soviet Union]], [[Staffan Söderblom]], wrongly assumed that they were dead.<ref name=JVL/> In April 1945, [[W. Averell Harriman]], then of the [[United States Department of State|US State Department]], offered the Swedish government help in inquiring about Wallenberg's fate, but the offer was declined.<ref name=TWS/> Söderblom met with [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] and Stalin in Moscow on 15 June 1946. Söderblom, still believing Wallenberg to be dead, ignored talk of an exchange for Russian defectors in Sweden.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=848917&ct=1053043|title= The Last Word on Wallenberg? New Investigations, New Questions| first= William |last= Korey |work= AJC.org| publisher= [[American Jewish Committee]] | access-date= 12 February 2007| url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061214232157/http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=848917&ct=1053043|archive-date= 14 December 2006|df= dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.raoul-wallenberg.eu/articles/stuck-in-neutral/ |format= PDF|title= Stuck in Neutral: The Reasons behind Sweden's passivity in the Raoul Wallenberg case|access-date=12 February 2007|date=22 August 2005}}</ref>

=== Death ===
On 6 February 1957, the Soviet government released a document dated 17 July 1947 that stated: "I report that the prisoner Wallenberg who is well-known to you, died suddenly in his cell this night, probably as a result of a heart attack or [[heart failure]]. Pursuant to the instructions given by you that I personally have Wallenberg under my care, I request approval to make an [[autopsy]] with a view to establishing cause of death.... I have personally notified the minister and it has been ordered that the body be [[cremation|cremated]] without autopsy."<ref name=chron3 /> The document was signed by Smoltsov, then the head of the Lubyanka prison infirmary, and addressed to [[Viktor Abakumov]], the Soviet minister of state security.<ref name=ROB /><ref name=NYT02151957>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1957/02/15/archives/germans-death-listed-soviet-notifies-the-red-cross-diplomat-died-in.html |title=German's Death Listed; Soviet Notifies the Red Cross Diplomat Died in Prison |newspaper= The New York Times |date=15 February 1957 | page= 9| access-date= 11 August 2020| url-access= subscription}}</ref> In 1989, Wallenberg's personal belongings were returned to his family, including his passport and cigarette case. Soviet officials said they found the materials when they were upgrading the shelves in a store room.<ref>{{cite news |title=Soviets Give Kin Wallenberg Papers |newspaper= The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/17/world/soviets-give-kin-wallenberg-papers.html| first= Esther B. | last= Fein |date=17 October 1989| access-date= 11 August 2020}}</ref><ref name=OSA>{{cite web|url= http://www.osa.ceu.hu/guide/rip/1/a.html|title= Raoul Wallenberg, Life and Work|access-date= 12 February 2007|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070114135351/http://www.osa.ceu.hu/guide/rip/1/a.html|archive-date= 14 January 2007|df= dmy-all}}</ref>

In 1991, [[Vyacheslav Nikonov]] was charged by the Russian government with investigating Wallenberg's fate. He concluded that Wallenberg died in 1947, executed while a prisoner in Lubyanka.<ref name="Jonathan Brent 2008">{{cite book |first=Jonathan |last=Brent |title=Inside the Stalin Archives |publisher=Atlas and Co |year=2008}}</ref> He may have been a victim of the C-2 poison ([[carbylamine-choline-chloride]]) tested at the [[poison laboratory of the Soviet secret services]].<ref>
{{Cite book
| last        = Fedorov | first = L.A.
| date        = 2005
| title       = Советское биологическое оружие: история, экология, политика
| trans-title = The Soviet biological weapons: history, ecology, politics
| url         = http://www.seu.ru/cci/lib/books/bioweapon/4/02.htm
| language    = ru
| location    = Moscow}}</ref>

In Moscow in 2000, [[Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev]] announced that Wallenberg had been executed in 1947 in Lubyanka prison. He claimed that [[Vladimir Kryuchkov]], the former Soviet [[secret police]] chief, told him about the shooting in a private conversation. The statement did not explain why Wallenberg was killed or why the government had lied about it.<ref name=WP12232000>{{cite news |last=LaFraniere |first=Sharon |title=Moscow Admits Wallenberg Died in Prison in 1947 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=23 December 2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,997659,00.html |title=Cause of Death Conceded |newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=7 August 2000 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090114075507/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C997659%2C00.html |archive-date=14 January 2009 }}</ref> General [[Pavel Sudoplatov]] claimed that Wallenberg died after being poisoned by [[Grigory Mairanovsky]], an [[NKVD]] chemist and torturer.<ref>{{cite book |first=Vadim J. |last=Birstein |title=The Perversion of Knowledge: The True Story of Soviet Science |page=138 |publisher=Westview Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8133-4280-1}}</ref> In 2000, Russian prosecutor [[Vladimir Ustinov]] signed a verdict posthumously rehabilitating Wallenberg and his driver, Langfelder, as "victims of [[political repression]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/12/22/russia.wallenberg/index.html |title=Russia: Wallenberg wrongfully jailed |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=22 December 2000 |access-date=14 February 2007 |archive-date=19 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219180113/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/12/22/russia.wallenberg/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Files pertinent to Wallenberg were turned over to the chief [[rabbi]] of Russia by the Russian government in September 2007.<ref name="files">{{cite web |url= http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/104393.html |archive-url= https://archive.today/20070621171021/http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/104393.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 21 June 2007 |title= Moscow releases Wallenberg files |access-date= 29 July 2007 |year= 2007 |publisher= Jewish Telegraphic Agency |website= JTA.org}}</ref> The items were slated to be housed at the [[Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center]] in Moscow,<ref name="files" /> which opened in 2012.<ref name="NYTopening">{{cite news |last= Barry |first= Ellen |title= In Big New Museum, Russia Has a Message for Jews: We Like You |newspaper= The New York Times |date= 9 November 2012 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/09/world/europe/russias-new-museum-offers-friendly-message-to-jews.html?_r=0 |access-date= 29 January 2013}}</ref>

In August 2016, new information about Wallenberg's death came to light when the diary of [[KGB]] head [[Ivan Serov]] surfaced after Serov's granddaughter found the diary hidden in a wall of her house. "I have no doubts that Wallenberg was liquidated in 1947," Serov wrote.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/2016/08/07/news-opinion/world/ex-kgb-heads-diaries-shed-more-light-on-death-of-raoul-wallenberg| title= Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish Holocaust hero, executed in Soviet prison, diaries reveal|date=7 August 2016|website= JTA.org| publisher= Jewish Telegraphic Agency |access-date=8 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/07/world/europe/from-a-dacha-wall-a-clue-to-raoul-wallenbergs-cold-war-fate.html|title=From a Dacha Wall, a Clue to Raoul Wallenberg's Cold War Fate|last=Macfarquhar|first=Neil|date=6 August 2016 |newspaper= The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=8 August 2016}}</ref>

=== Disputes about his death ===
[[File:Woollahra-NSW-Raoul-Wallenberg-plaque-May-2020.jpg|thumb|A plaque in Wallenberg's honour in [[Woollahra, New South Wales|Woollahra]], [[New South Wales]] that claims that, as of 1985, he was "still behind prison bars in the U.S.S.R."]]
Several former prisoners have claimed to have seen Wallenberg after his reported death in 1947.<ref>{{cite news| url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4181427.stm|title=Search for Swedish Holocaust hero|date=17 January 2005|work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> In February 1949, former German Colonel [[Theodor von Dufving]], a [[prisoner of war]], provided statements concerning Wallenberg. In the transit camp of [[Kirov, Kirov Oblast|Kirov]], while being moved to [[Vorkuta]], Dufving encountered a prisoner dressed in civilian clothes with his own special guard. The prisoner claimed that he was a Swedish diplomat and said he was there "through a great error".<ref name= chron3>{{cite web| url= http://www.raoulwallenberg.org/who/stone.html |title= Chronology – Who is Raoul Wallenberg?| website= raoulwallenberg.org| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081010185251/http://www.raoulwallenberg.org/who/stone.html| archive-date= 10 October 2008| publisher= The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States| access-date= 19 September 2008}}</ref>

[[Nazi hunter]] [[Simon Wiesenthal]] searched for Wallenberg and collected several testimonies. For example, British businessman [[Greville Wynne]], who was imprisoned in the Lubyanka prison in 1962 for his connection to [[KGB]] [[defector]] [[Oleg Penkovsky]], stated that he had talked to, but could not see the face of, a man who claimed to be a Swedish diplomat.<ref name="Alan Levy 20032">{{cite book|title=Nazi Hunter: The Wiesenthal File| last= Levy| first= Alan| publisher= Robinson| year=2003|location=London}}</ref> Efim (or Yefim) Moshinsky claims to have seen Wallenberg on [[Wrangel Island]] in 1962.<ref name= "mystery lives 164">{{cite book| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eFDNcB4NGdQC|title=Raoul Wallenberg: The Mystery Lives On| last= Rosenfeld| first= Harvey| publisher= iUniverse| year= 2005| isbn= 978-0-595-35544-0|page=164}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Raoul Wallenberg Is Alive! The Amazing Autobiography of the KGB Officer Who Arrested Him in 1945| last= Moshinsky| first= Efim| publisher= Rescue Publishing |year= 1987| location= Jerusalem}}</ref> An eyewitness asserted that she had seen Wallenberg in the 1960s in a Soviet prison where she worked.<ref name="AP 0428082">{{cite news| url= https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-04-28-4012326126_x.htm | first1= Arthur |last1= Max |first2= Randy |last2= Herschaft| title= Scholars run down more clues to abiding Holocaust mystery| agency= Associated Press |work= [[USA Today]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090226225733/http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-04-28-4012326126_x.htm| archive-date= 26 February 2009| date= 28 April 2008| url-status= live| access-date= 11 August 2020| quote= In December 1993, investigator Marvin Makinen of the University of Chicago interviewed Varvara Larina, a retiree who began working as an orderly at Moscow's Vladimir Prison in 1946.}}</ref>

During a private conversation about the conditions of detention in Soviet prisons at a Communist Party reception in the mid-1970s, a KGB general is reported to have said that "conditions could not be that harsh, given that in Lubyanka prison there is some foreign prisoner who had been there now for almost three decades."<ref name="Alan Levy 20032" />

The last reported sightings of Wallenberg were by two independent witnesses who said they had evidence that he was in prison in November 1987.<ref>{{cite news| url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE1D71439F93BA1575BC0A966958260|title=Soviets Open Prisons and Records to Inquiry on Wallenberg's Fate |last= Keller| first= Bill| date= 28 August 1990 |newspaper= The New York Times |access-date=13 February 2007}}</ref> John Farkas was a [[resistance fighter]] during World War II and was the last man claiming to have seen Wallenberg alive. Farkas' son has stated that there have been sightings of Wallenberg "up into the 1980s in Soviet prisons and [[psychiatric hospital]]s."<ref name="SMH2">{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/man-who-rescued-jews-becomes-australias-first-honorary-citizen-20130506-2j2yr.html|title=Man who rescued Jews becomes Australia's first honorary citizen| last= Ireland| first= Judith| date=6 May 2013|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|access-date=6 May 2013}}</ref>

=== Attempts to find Wallenberg ===
In the late 1970s, [[Tom Lantos#Personal and family life|Annette Lantos]], one of the people rescued by Wallenberg, established the International Free Wallenberg Committee to pressure the Soviet Union into providing answers about his disappearance. She later tried to enlist US President [[Jimmy Carter]] to seek further information by sending in a postcard to the ''Ask President Carter'' radio show and by working with Simon Wiesenthal and [[Jack Anderson (columnist)|Jack Anderson]] to tell Wallenberg's story through a ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' column.

Noticing these efforts and angry that Sweden had not gone far enough in their efforts to find Wallenberg, [[Nina Lagergren]], Wallenberg's half-sister, traveled to the United States to campaign with Lantos. The efforts of Lantos and Lagergren eventually led to the creation of the Free Wallenberg Committee in Congress, led by [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan|Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan]], whose goal was to determine what happened to Wallenberg. Lantos' husband and fellow Holocaust survivor, [[Tom Lantos|Tom]], later continued the congressional push for answers regarding Wallenberg after being elected to the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] in 1980.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title= Unlikely Heroes: The Place of Holocaust Rescuers in Research and Teaching|last1=Kohen|first1=Ari|last2=Steinacher|first2=Gerald J.|publisher=Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska|year=2019|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|pages=110–138}}</ref>

==== Honorary citizenship ====
One of Tom Lantos' first acts as a representative in Congress was to recognize Wallenberg as an [[Honorary citizenship of the United States|honorary American citizen]]. After being told by President Carter that the Soviet Union would not answer questions to America about a non-American citizen, Lantos worked with Senator Moynihan to pass a bill recognizing Wallenberg as such. The effort grew as ''[[60 Minutes]]'' aired a piece on Wallenberg while the resolution was moving through Congress. Newly elected [[Ronald Reagan|President Ronald Reagan]] watched the program and joined Lantos and Moynihan in pushing for the resolution to pass. It eventually passed by a 396–2 vote and was quickly signed into law by Reagan, making Wallenberg the second person in history ([[Winston Churchill]] being the first) to be made an honorary American citizen by an [[act of Congress]].<ref name=":0" />

With his citizenship now granted, the Wallenberg family successfully sued the Soviet Union in 1984 in an American Federal District Court over his disappearance for $39 million, or $1 million per year that Wallenberg's fate has been unknown.<ref>{{cite web |author1=UPI |title=DIPLOMAT'S FAMILY SUES SOVIET |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/03/us/diplomat-s-family-sues-soviet.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=8 November 2024 |date=3 February 1984 |quote=The family of Raoul Wallenberg ...filed a $39 million lawsuit against the Soviet Union today, demanding that the Russians tell what happened to him.}}</ref> However, the Soviet Union ignored the suit and did not pay any of the damages awarded by the judge. They also did not offer any information into his disappearance.<ref name=":0" />

==== Efforts outside America ====
Raoul Wallenberg's half-brother, [[Guy von Dardel]],<ref name="profdardel2">{{cite web|url=http://www.raoul-wallenberg.eu/dardel/l|title=La soeur de Raoul Wallenberg se rendra à Moscou|work=Searching for Raoul Wallenberg|access-date=30 March 2016|date=27 August 1989}}</ref> a well-known physicist, retired from [[CERN]] and dedicated the rest of his life to finding out his half-brother's fate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raoul-wallenberg.eu/dardel/List|title=List of documents in Russian archives and relevant to the Wallenberg case|work=Searching for Raoul Wallenberg|access-date=30 March 2016|date=17 January 1945}}</ref> He traveled to the Soviet Union about fifty times for discussions and research, including an examination of the Vladimir prison records.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.arikaplan.com/speech/wallenberg.pdf| first1= Marvin W.| last1= Makinen | first2= Ari D.| last2= Kaplan |title= Cell Occupancy Analysis of Korpus 2 of the Vladimir Prison |website= arikaplan.com |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165320/http://www.arikaplan.com/speech/wallenberg.pdf|archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref> Over the years, von Dardel compiled a 50,000-page archive of interviews, journal articles, letters, and other documents related to his quest.<ref name="WSJ2009-02-28">{{cite news |url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123207264405288683|title=The Wallenberg Curse: The Search for the Missing Holocaust Hero Began in 1945. The Unending Quest Tore His Family Apart |last= Prager| first= Joshua |date=28 February 2009|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|access-date=4 March 2009}}</ref> In 1991, Dardel initiated a Swedish-Russian working group<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raoul-wallenberg.eu/articles/report-on-the-activities-of-the-russian-swedish-working-group-for-determining-the-fate-of-raoul-wallenberg-1991-2000-2/|title=Searching for Raoul Wallenberg – Report on the activities of the Russian-Swedish working group for determining the Fate of Raoul Wallenberg (1991–2000)|website=Raoul-wallenberg.eu|access-date=2014-09-21|date=2000-10-25|archive-date=14 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414100108/http://www.raoul-wallenberg.eu/articles/report-on-the-activities-of-the-russian-swedish-working-group-for-determining-the-fate-of-raoul-wallenberg-1991-2000-2/|url-status=dead}}</ref> to search eleven separate military and government archives from the former Soviet Union for information about Wallenberg's fate, but the group was not able to find useful information.<ref name= "SWRG2">{{cite book| url= http://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/3e3f2d0450024d088676560dc3509f05/raoul-wallenberg---report-of-the-swedish-russian-working-group |title= Raoul Wallenberg: report of the Swedish-Russian working group |publisher= Ministry for Foreign Affairs [Utrikesdep.], Regeringskansliet |year= 2000 |isbn= 978-91-7496-230-7|editor-last1= Palmklint|editor-first1= Ingrid|series= Ministry for Foreign Affairs. New Series II, 0562-8881; 52| location=Stockholm|id={{LIBRIS|7645089}} |access-date= 13 February 2007 |editor-last2= Larsson| editor-first2= Daniel}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= http://info.jpost.com/C001/Supplements/Shoah/hol_Missing.html|title=Missing in Action: Raoul Wallenberg |newspaper= [[Jerusalem Post]] |url-status= dead| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070127084222/http://info.jpost.com/C001/Supplements/Shoah/hol_Missing.html|archive-date=27 January 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.raoul-wallenberg.asso.fr/wallenberg_coun/sweden/swe.html |title= Excerpt from 1993 working group session| website= raoul-wallenberg.asso.fr| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070927043323/http://www.raoul-wallenberg.asso.fr/wallenberg_coun/sweden/swe.html| archive-date=27 September 2007}}</ref> Many, including von Dardel and his daughters, Louise and Marie, do not accept the various versions of Wallenberg's death. They continue to request that the archives in Russia, Sweden, and Hungary become available to impartial researchers.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

==== Present-day attempts ====
In 2012, Russian [[lieutenant general]] Vasily Khristoforov, head of the registration branch of the [[Federal Security Service (Russia)|Russian Federal Security Service]], said that the Wallenberg case was still open. He also dismissed any allegation of a continuing cover-up, saying that "this is another state and a different special service" from the Soviet Union and the services in charge of holding Wallenberg.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.nola.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/russia-says-the-wallenberg-case-is-still/c7372c74d2a9436db517116e0d506033|title=Russia says the Wallenberg case is still open (link broken) |date= 29 May 2012|newspaper=[[The Times-Picayune]]|access-date=30 May 2012|url-status= dead| archive-url= https://archive.today/20130130020912/http://www.nola.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/russia-says-the-wallenberg-case-is-still/c7372c74d2a9436db517116e0d506033 |archive-date= 30 January 2013| edition= Saint Tammany |location=New Orleans|page=A7}}</ref>

===Declared dead ''in absentia''===
On 29 March 2016, an announcement was made by the [[Swedish Tax Agency]] that a petition to have Wallenberg [[Declared death in absentia|declared dead ''in absentia'']] was submitted. It stated that if he did not report to the Tax Agency before 14 October 2016, he would be legally declared dead.<ref name="inabsentia2">{{cite web|url=http://www.expressen.se/dinapengar/raoul-wallenberg-begars-dodsforklarad/|title=Raoul Wallenberg begärs dödförklarad| last1= Eriksson |first1= Martin|last2=Töpffer|first2=Michael|date=29 March 2016|language=sv|trans-title=Petition to declare Raol Wallenberg dead| access-date= 31 March 2016 |newspaper=[[Expressen]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.svd.se/raoul-wallenberg-kommer-dodforklaras-i-host|title=Raoul Wallenberg begärs dödförklarad |last1= Svensson |first1= Frida|date=29 March 2016|language=sv|trans-title=Petition to declare Raol Wallenberg dead|access-date=31 March 2016|newspaper=[[Svenska Dagbladet]]}}</ref>

Wallenberg was declared dead legally in October 2016, as announced through the petition. Consistent with the approach used in other cases where the circumstances of death were not known, the Swedish tax agency recorded the date of his death as 31 July 1952, five years after he went missing.<ref name="BBCNews_201610312">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37824692|title=Sweden declares Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg officially dead|date=31 October 2016| work=BBC News |access-date=31 October 2016}}</ref><ref name="Expressen2">{{cite news|url=http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/raoul-wallenberg-dodforklarad/ |title= Raoul Wallenberg har förklarats död| language= sv| newspaper= Expressen.se| date= 31 October 2016| first= Karl Enn |last= Henricsson| access-date= 11 August 2020}}</ref>