1912-1947. Swedish businessman who attempted
to rescue several thousand Jews from
German-occupied Budapest in 1944, during
World War II. There he tried to rescue and
support Jews in safe houses, and provided
them with false papers to save them from
deportation to extermination camps. After the
arrival of Soviet troops in Budapest, he
reported to the Russian commander in Jan 1945
and then disappeared. The Soviet government
later claimed that he died of a heart attack
in July 1947. However, rumours persist that
he is still alive and held in a Soviet prison
camp.