HC Deb 28 July 1988 vol 138 cc414-5W
Mr. Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) when he last raised the case of Mr. Raoul Wallenberg with the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; and if he will make a statement;

(2) if he will make further representations to the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics concerning Mr. Raoul Wallenberg; and if he will make a statement;

(3) if he will list those countries that are known to his Department to have made representations to the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics about the case of Raoul Wallenberg; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Chalker

Mr. Wallenberg's nationality is Swedish. His disappearance is therefore primarily for the Swedish Government to pursue. Since 1957 the Soviet authorities have said that Mr. Wallenberg died in prison in 1947. Over the years there have been many reports that he was alive and in prison in the Soviet Union considerably later than that, but there has been no conclusive proof. We have frequently pressed the Soviet Union for a full account of Mr. Wallenberg's fate, and shall continue to do so as long as there is doubt as to whether he did in fact die, and if so, how. Increasing openness in Soviet society, particularly as regards matters of history and indications that glasnost may possibly be extended to cover international tragedies such as the Katyn massacre, suggest that it may prove possible before too long to establish the truth about Mr. Wallenberg.

We have not discussed Mr. Wallenberg's fate with other EC Governments or with the Swedish Government. We know that there is widespread international interest in this tragic case, and we are sure that all concerned are as anxious as we are to find out the truth.