Our CEO Mike Zervos was invited by Eva de Jong-Duldig (Founder) and the Board of Duldig Studio to honour Upstander RAOUL WALLENBERG (1912 – ) on the 80th Anniversary of his arrest by Soviet troops in Hungary during World War II
The ceremony took place on Friday 17 January 2025 at the Raoul Wallenberg Monument Kew Junction, in the presence of:
Cr Sophie Torney – Mayor, City of Boroondara
Dr Steven Cooke – CEO, Melbourne Holocaust Museum
Mike Zervos OAM – CEO, Courage to Care (Vic)
Rabbi Yaacov Glasman – St Kilda Hebrew Congregation
Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, humanitarian and hero of the Holocaust, saved tens of thousands of people threatened by Nazi extermination in Budapest, Hungary in 1944.
He was last seen alive on 17 January 1945 when he was arrested by Soviet troops and transported to the Soviet Union. Despite unconfirmed sightings since then, details concerning the date and place of his death remain a mystery.
Raoul Wallenberg is widely lauded as a hero of humanity who had the compassion to care and the courage to act, confront evil and transform history. Wallenberg’s actions resonate as much today as they did in 1945.
The Duldig Studio is a not-for-profit house museum that showcases the life and work of the sculptor Karl Duldig (1902–1986) and his wife, the artist and inventor Slawa Horowitz-Duldig (1901–1975).
In 1982 the Raoul Wallenberg Garden at Kew Junction was dedicated by Kew City Council. Subsequently the organisation ‘Free Wallenberg Australia’ commissioned the distinguished émigré Australian sculptor Karl Duldig (1902-1986) to create a ‘Monument to Raoul Wallenberg’. The Monument was unveiled by the Swedish Consul on 17th January 1985, in the presence of Per Anger, Raoul Wallenberg’s co-worker at the Swedish Legation in Budapest.
The Monument at Kew Junction was the first memorial to Raoul Wallenberg in Australia, and one of the first in the world. The Monument was the artist’s last public work and is classified by the National Trust (Vic).