Wallenberg 2004

In July 1944, 34-year-old Raoul Wallenberg, an ordinary Swedish citizen, went to Nazi-occupied Hungary and in a six-month stay there managed to save an estimated 100,000 Jews, more than were rescued by any other individual, organization or government during the entire Holocaust. This musical tells the story of his heroic accomplishments in Budapest. The musical follows Raoul Wallenberg from his decision to take on a mission to rescue the last remaining Jewish community in Europe through his mysterious disappearance in January 1945. The show explores his relationships with the Baroness Kemeny, Eichmann and Wallenberg's comrades at the Swedish Legation, and focuses on his remarkable efforts to save the Hungarian Jews. Remaining quite faithful to history, the authors convey in drama and song Wallenberg's innovation of the schutzpass, a fake Swedish I.D. which he issued to thousands of Jews and which managed to fool the Nazis, as well as his bold and daring face-off with Eichmann at a train station, where he literally pulled Jews off the cattle cars and claimed them as Swedish citizens.  The musical ends at Wallenberg's disappearance at the hands of the Russians, offering audiences the full range of speculation about the mysterious fate of this incredible man.