The tenth Wallenberg Medal was presented to Nina Lagergren, Raoul Wallenberg’s sister, in memory of Raoul. Lagergren came to Ann Arbor in October 2000 to accept the medal and to deliver the Wallenberg Lecture. It was her first visit to the city and to the University of Michigan, which had nurtured her brother for four…
Category: Medal Recipients
Each year the recipient of the Wallenberg Medal is invited to present a lecture at the University of Michigan. The medalists take the stage at Rackham Auditorium and share their stories with an audience drawn from our campus and many surrounding communities.
1999, John Lewis
“If anyone had told me that one day I would be standing here receiving this great honor, this great medal…as a member of Congress, I would have said, ‘You’re crazy!’” John Lewis, ninth Wallenberg Medalist, told his audience at Rackham Auditorium in January 2000.
1997, Simcha Rotem
As he walks through his Jerusalem neighborhood overlooking the Old City, Simcha “Kazik” Rotem points out to a visitor that these houses were under fire during the 1967 Six-Day War. He used the Polish Gentile name Kazik in the Warsaw ghetto in 1943 as part of a disguise. There is no fear in Kazik’s voice…
1996, Marion Pritchard
Marion Pritchard protected the lives of 150 Dutch Jews—most of them children—during World War II, using whatever means were at hand. “By 1945 I had lied, stolen, cheated, deceived and even killed,” she told the audience assembled in Rackham Auditorium for the seventh Wallenberg Lecture in October 1996. She emphasized that she did not work…
1995, Per Anger
In 1944, Per Anger worked with Raoul Wallenberg to save the Jews of Budapest and witnessed Wallenberg’s extraordinary actions. Anger dedicated much of his life to learning the truth about Wallenberg’s disappearance 1945.
1994, Miep Gies
Gies sheltered Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II. She came to international attention after the posthumous publication of Frank’s diary. While millions of people all over the world know about Anne Frank, far fewer are aware of Miep Gies, the woman who sustained Frank and her family…
1994, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet
Nobel laureate, spiritual leader and head of the Tibetan government in exile, His Holiness is an internationally honored proponent of nonviolence, human rights and peace.
1992, Helen Suzman
A longtime member of the South African parliament, Suzman worked consistently, and often alone, to dismantle the system of apartheid. For thirty-six years, from 1953 until 1989, as a member of the South African Parliament, Helen Suzman was the conscience of her nation. Never faltering, and often fighting alone, she stood strong and brave against…
1991, Jan Karski
As a courier for the Polish government-in-exile and the resistance during World War II, Jan Karski was an early witness to the Holocaust who was among the first to bring detailed evidence to the Allies about the extermination of the Jews in Europe.
1990, Elie Wiesel
Nobel laureate and survivor of Auschwitz, Wiesel has used his incomparable talents as an educator and writer in defense of peace and human rights.