IN WASHTENAW COUNTY - Washtenaw Jewish News

in school here. Since 1990, this endowed
program at the University of Michigan has
awarded an annual Wallenberg Medal to
an individual whose humanitarian actions
exemplify those of Raoul Wallenberg.
The medalist program has brought the
twentieth century’s most outstanding
humanitarians to campus to tell their stories.
Wallenberg Medal recipients include,
among others, Nobel laureates Elie Wiesel;
His Holiness the Dalai Lama; Miep Gies,
the woman who supported Anne Frank
and her family in hiding; Helen Suzman, a
member of the South African parliament;
Marion Pritchard, a Dutch woman who
rescued Jewish babies during World War
II; Simcha Rotem, a Warsaw ghetto fighter;
the mime Marcel Marceau, who as a member
of the French Resistance smuggled
Jewish children into Switzerland; United
States Congressman and civil rights leader
John Lewis; and Paul Rusesabagina, a
hotel manager who sheltered more than
a thousand people from certain death
during Rwanda’s civil strife.
The Wallenberg Committee deeply
believes that young people must be told
the story of Raoul Wallenberg. When
Wallenberg’s sister, Nina Lagergren, came
from Sweden in the fall of 2001 to accept
the Wallenberg Medal on behalf of her
brother, she emphasized in her lecture
the importance of reaching out to young
people. It is, after all, the best way to begin
to change the world. The Wallenberg Committee
believes that the example of Raoul
Wallenberg can turn young people from
helpless cynicism to resolute hopefulness
and to awaken them to the belief that one
person can make a difference.
The 2010 recipient is Dr. Denis Mukwege.
He is an OB/GYN and surgeon who is the
director of Panzi
Hospital in the
city of Bukavu
in the eastern
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo. He
specializes in
the treatment
of women who
have been
gang-raped by
Rwandan militia. Dr. Mukwege is a leading
voice in the effort to bring attention to the
continued problem of warfare and sexual
violence in the Congo.
For more information about the Wallenberg
lecture and ceremony this year, contact
Wendy Ascione.
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