Presentation of Honorary Australian Citizenship to the late Raoul Wallenberg

In an Australian first, the Governor-General presided over a ceremony recognising the late World War II humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg as an honorary Australian citizen at Government House, Canberra.

Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat in Nazi-occupied Hungary who led an extensive and successful mission to save the lives of nearly 100,000 Hungarian Jews by issuing protective passports and providing shelter in diplomatic buildings.

The Governor-General was joined by the Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard MP, the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Tony Abbott MP, Holocaust survivors, diplomatic representatives and senior Jewish community leaders.

Guests also included Mr George Farkas, the son of Mr John Farkas, Raoul Wallenberg's right hand man in 1944-45 and the last person to see Wallenberg before he was taken captive by the Russians, and Professor Frank Vajda AM, who Wallenberg rescued from an execution squad.