Ottawa has proclaimed Jan. 17 as his day, but few Canadians know of his exploits The United States dedicates every third Monday in January to Martin Luther King, Jr. Canada declares today, Jan. 17, to be Wallenberg Day. That sounds impressive - but does anybody know who Raoul Wallenberg is, or why we recognize his legacy?

He is one of only two honourary Canadian citizens (along with Nelson Mandela), yet few know of him. One of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th century, yet virtually unknown in the country that chose to make him one of us. There's something wrong here.

Why should we still care about Raoul Wallenberg? After all, it has been 62 years since he was arrested by the Russians, on Jan. 17, 1945, and vanished into another totalitarian killing machine, never to reappear.

Here's why.

In the face of the darkest evil during the Second World War, Wallenberg left his quiet neutral country, Sweden, and went to Budapest, one of the bloodiest places of the war, to save people of a different religion, ethnicity and tradition.

Defying the Nazis, he rushed to death-camp deportation sites, using his consular status to hand out coveted papers with the seal of the government of Sweden.

He rescued those bound for death and delivered them to safe houses where they were protected from the Nazi death machine. He saved thousands - 100,000 people would certainly have been murdered if not for his intervention. Acting alone in Budapest, on his own initiative, he saved more lives during the Holocaust than any government in the world. Sounds impossible, but it is true.

I am constantly amazed at his staggering achievement, and the terrible irony of his life story - the hero rescuer who is himself imprisoned and silenced.

Even his death was left unexplained, lied about, denied, forever unfinished. What greater degradation is there, than denying the victims their own deaths, so their life stories are never completed? Even a butcher like Saddam Hussein has had his death noted and sealed in history.

It's so hard not to be cynical in our terrifying world today. We've debased and fictionalized the concept of heroism. We're brought up to believe that our governments, our courts, our civilized institutions are all that are needed to solve our world's problems. The lesson of Wallenberg is that one person, a single brave person, can defy the monsters and accomplish the seemingly impossible.

Wallenberg could have had an easy time - he came from comfort and privilege - but he chose to act. We need to remember Wallenberg, and we need to teach his story to our children. Canada has done more than most countries in the world to recognize and honour his contributions to humanity, but there's more that can be done.

How many schoolchildren have heard of Wallenberg? How many ordinary people know of him? I did a little experiment in my neighbourhood in Victoria, stopping people and asking them. Out of 20 people of all ages, I was shocked to discover that not a single one knew who Wallenberg was and what he'd accomplished. I fear that this is the case everywhere.

The Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg International Movement for Humanity, under the vision of Vera Parnes, has lobbied hard to get Wallenberg the recognition he deserves. It has also developed curriculum for elementary and high-school students, but the will to teach these lessons is still not there in our schools. Our media are also uninterested. We need to wake them up.

It has been five years since the federal government declared Jan. 17 Wallenberg Day in Canada. What do we accomplish on this day, other than speeches? Let's put some muscle behind this day. Make it meaningful.

Let us consider how Wallenberg can enter our lives, how he can be our teacher in our own neighbourhoods and beyond. I propose approaching the Swedish consulate and corporations such as Volvo or Ikea, which could fund essay and poetry contests. Scholarships could be awarded to students based on humanitarian projects. Small but achievable projects that can be accomplished by one individual; that might save a person's life, or rescue a village.

Projects could be conceived in the spirit of a man willing to confront something terrible and say: No, this must be stopped.

Isa Milman is a poet, artist and occupational therapist in Victoria. She has been a member of the Raoul Wallenberg International Movement for Humanity since 1994.

(Copyright Montreal Gazette 2007)