We were There - The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation

George Farkas
My late father, Janos (John) Farkas, was Raoul Wallenberg's right hand man. My father was a member of
the Hungarian underground who, with a false name and papers, joined Raoul, who never knew he was
Jewish as he thought he would not allow him to help on the grounds of it being too dangerous for a Jew to
do so.
He accompanied Raoul everywhere - to the railway stations and while he intercepted the death marches -
and together they handed out the Schutzpasses that saved so many lives.
He was in fact the last person in the "free" world to speak to Raoul before he went to the Russians 8 ,
having failed in repeated attempts to dissuade him from going with them.
A very humble, shy and modest man who never regarded what he did as anything extraordinary, my
father never spoke of his wartime activities until a television program was being made about Raoul. A
person who was saved by Raoul said to the producers, "Why are you speaking to me? Why don't you
speak to the man who actually saved my life - he's living here in Sydney," and thus my father’s close
connection to Raoul and his mission came to light.
It was for this reason that Mrs. Nane Annan, the former U.N. Secretary General's wife 9 (and Raoul's niece)
asked to meet me when she was in Sydney, as she had heard of my father's close involvement with Raoul.
I have done some extensive research on Raoul's fate and the activities of both him and my father, and I
have given addresses on the subject of their exploits to both B'nei Brith and the Sydney Jewish Museum. I
am also on the Board of the Sydney Jewish Museum, where my father's involvement with Raoul is
featured.
I have also met Jan Anger, Per Anger's 10 son, who has provided me with extensive information on his
father and Raoul’s exploits, and in particular on the Swedish government's failure to capitalize on a
number of opportunities with which it was presented to ascertain Raoul's fate and possibly save him.
8
Editorial Note: This is a large claim, and the editor was unable to verify its veracity. Thus, it remains in the testimony as
unsubstantiated information.
9
Kofi Annan served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 until December of 2006.
10
Per Anger (1913-2002) was the second secretary of the Swedish Legation in Budapest, Hungary from 1942 until the end of World
War II. He worked closely with Raoul Wallenberg and helped save thousands of Jews from their deaths at the hands of the Nazis.
11