[Lifestyle] Film New Documentary About Raoul Wallenberg by Holocaust Survivor George Preger By Noelle Norman
“This is the story of Canada’s recognition of a young man who eventually gave his life in the midst of saving others he had never even met,” says the narrator of George Preger’s recent documentary Raoul Wallenberg – Honorary Canadian Citizen, Saviour of Thousands of Jews in Budapest.
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n the spring of 1944, Hungary found itself suddenly occupied by German troops. The country had been a German ally throughout the war, but now they had been caught trying to establish a separate peace with the Soviet Union and the Nazis took swift action. George Preger was eight years old at the time. His father, a Hungarian Jew, managed to get a hold of false papers for himself and his family. Serving in the Hungarian army, he was rarely able to visit his family, but when he did, he made sure to
George Preger
prepare them for the random raids conducted by the Nazis. He would wake young George in the middle of the night, shining a flashlight in his face to interrogate him in German about his new identity. Who was he? What was his name? Who were his parents? On paper, young George was now the son of his German governess and his real mother was her half-sister. They were hiding in a Hungarian village, posing as ethnic Germans. Their German had to be flawless and they had to learn to decipher every symbol on the
uniforms of German and Russian soldiers. What unit they came from, what loyalties they held. “My father was a very perceptive person. He had served in the AustroHungarian army in World War I as an officer and later lived in Berlin. He saw what was happening in Germany – the change to the Nazi regime and what was coming. Many other Jewish families did not realize what was coming – did not prepare and were subsequently caught in this horrible situation that ensued,” says Preger. While these nightly preparations were obviously extremely stressful, failing an interrogation could be fatal. “I remember seeing a beautiful girl and her father being executed in the courtyard. They had passed us over believing we were gentiles,” Preger recalls. The incident would serve as a life-long reminder of the need for constant vigilance. Preger managed to survive the war and after completing his studies in central Europe, he moved to Sweden where he lived for 20 years. In 1969, Preger and his family moved to Canada where they settled in Toronto. In 1985, Preger, then chair of the Swedish Canadian Chamber of Commerce, accepted the certificate recognizing Raoul Wallenberg as Canada’s first honorary citizen. Dedicated to preserving the memory of Raoul Wallenberg and his legacy, Preger recently made a short documentary called Raoul Wallenberg – Honorary Canadian Citizen, Saviour of Thousands of Jews in Budapest, which is available for free on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=HvTNivX2qUk).
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Swedish Press | March 2021 21
