The Raoul Wallenberg Centre

The Fishing and Transportation of New Jewish Immigrants

The Gypsy Revival and Israel

Outreach to Messianic Jewish Congregations

Tentative Programme of the Wallenberg Centre
Summer 2007

History of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre
in Budapest

The Ministry Team

How You Can Help

The Wallenberg Centre – A Brief History

On a spring day in 1990 Erika Szilvasi was walking around the hills on the Buda side of the Hungarian capital Budapest. She was praying for the city and the country. Erika, the wife of a Reformed Church pastor was herself a graduate of the large Reformed Seminary in Budapest. Even before the communist era came to an end many believers in Hungary were touched by the spiritual renewal movement and were interceding for their nation. Erika was one of those who at the same time received revelation about the Lord’s purposes for Israel and the Jewish people, for whom she had a special burden. Erika knew that before World War 11 the Jewish population of Hungary was over 900,000, but after the war barely 100,000. The story of what happened to Hungarian Jewry is a tragic one.

In the museum attached to the large synagogue in Budapest there is a picture of many Hungarian Jews outside the gates of Auschwitz. Underneath is a chilling inscription : “ Not every day trains arrived at Auschwitz with Jews from Hungary but on days they did up to 12,000 of them were killed in one day “

The one bright ray of hope in this tragic story was the role Raoul Wallenberg and his helpers played in saving tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews. As a representative in Hungary for his country of Sweden he issued “Schutzpasse” or free passes to thousands, thus giving them a kind of immunity against being taken away by Nazi soldiers. He also set up a number of “safe Houses“ in Budapest which he declared to be under the jurisdiction of the Swedish Government. Although his actions saved many, he himself was arrested by the Soviet Army when they entered Budapest, and he was taken away to a prison in Moscow where he reputedly died in 1947.

As Erika was walking up the hill she heard the Holy Spirit speaking clearly to her heart: ”Ask me for a big house in Buda.” She obeyed, even though large habitable homes were almost entirely unobtainable at that time. Many of the mansions built during the heyday of the Habsburg rule over the Austro- Hungarian Empire had been completely neglected during the Communist era and were in very bad condition.

Meanwhile the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem was closely watching the political and social upheavals in Eastern Europe. Since 1982 the Embassy had rallied ceaselessly for the release of Soviet Jews enabling them to immigrate to Israel, the land of their fathers. When the doors finally opened the Embassy immediately got involved, assisting the Jewish Agency in bringing many of the olim first to a rallying point, from where they could fly to Israel and then even paying for some of the flights with funds donated by Christians.

Before direct flights from Russia to Israel were permitted by the Soviet Government many of the new immigrants had to travel by train to Budapest for their flight.

But there were also other considerations why the Embassy was interested in Hungary. The country was known to have allowed free enterprise on a smaller scale even before the end of Socialist rule. By the end of the 1980’s Hungary already had a financial infrastructure with modernized banks and elements of Western-style capitalism. Compared to other communist countries it was booming without, for example, the food shortages that caused long lines outside the shops in Moscow. But there was also the memory of the Hungarian Revolution which had stirred the world in 1956, and then Hungary was strategically positioned in the centre of Europe with the West on one side (Austria) and the Russian/Ukrainian world on its Eastern border. The Embassy was keen to establish a presence in Budapest not only to assist with aliyah but also to be a link with the rest of Eastern Europe.

The Embassy made contact with Erika and other Hungarian Christians with a love for the Jewish people and legally established the ministry under the name of “The Second Exodus Foundation“. Because of the emphasis on aliyah from the hub of Budapest a large house was needed from which to operate. But as suitable places were at that time virtually unobtainable, it took real faith to trust the Lord for the right house.

Already in the late seventies the Hungarian Government had begun to permit limited expressions of free enterprise. A Jewish couple who were survivors of the Bergen Belsen concentration camp had opened a delicatessen shop in the centre of Budapest, and after a few years had been able to build a large home in the diplomatic area of the city in the Buda hills, together with another Jewish family. As the couple grew older they wanted to move to a smaller home and the Embassy heard that their part of the house, the larger bottom area of the building, was for sale. It was ideal for the Embassy’s purposes, with a large reception room, a study, bathrooms, a separate basement apartment and a triple garage. Lockup garages were needed for the security of vans parked there with the olims’ baggage. Other Embassies wanted to buy the house as their ambassador’s residence but the Jewish couple were so touched by what the house was to be used for that they wanted it to go to the Christian Embassy. This was made possible by a worldwide fundraising drive, and the names of all those who contributed can be seen today on “The Wallenberg List“, a plaque on a wall inside the house, touching the hearts of Jewish people who see it. In honour of the tremendous work Raoul Wallenberg did to save so many Jews it was appropiate to name the Centre after him.

The Wallenberg Centre’s main function in the years that followed remained that of operational headquarters for the transportation of new immigrants. A Swiss team under the leading of farmer Peter Murri would depart from the Centre with vans loaded with aid, as still today. They drive the four-hour journey to Uszgorod , a city in Western Ukraine near the Hungarian border where they distribute aid to poor families and speak with the Jewish people about making aliyah. After a few days they return to Budapest with a number of new immigrants, and they all stay at the Wallenberg Centre until they take them to the airport for their flight to Israel.

The Wallenberg Centre served many other ministry purposes as well though. For almost the entire decade of the nineties it was the base for making the video of the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, utilizing the facilities of an editing studio with technical personnel at a fraction of the cost of doing the same task in a studio in Israel.

The Embassy also gave several receptions in honour of Israel in a large hotel in Budapest, with the Israeli ambassador as guest of honour. The Centre served as the planning headquarters for these events which did much to bring together the church, political and cultural leaders in one facility and to introduce them to the importance of supporting Israel.

In the year 1999 the Wallenberg Centre arranged for a group of Gypsies, pastors and musicians to attend the Feast of Tabernacles Celebration in Jerusalem. This first visit to Israel has borne much fruit - so much so that the Gypsy ministry vis-à-vis Israel is becoming a major part of the Centre’s ministry. Read more about this in the related article.

The Wallenberg Centre has recently received a new lease of life. Not only have the numbers and frequency of the aliyah work increased but more and more visitors, not only from Hungary but also from other countries, come to visit the Centre and even stay for a few days.

In 1991 the Second Exodus Foundation was established as the legal framework for the ministry in Eastern Europe. In his capacity as Director of the Christian Embassy at the time, Johann Lückhoff was registered in Hungary as the Founder of the Foundation. The board was established with several of the International Christian Embassy representatives together with Timothy King, the ICEJ Financial Director. Erika and two others represented Hungary on the board.

Although Johann has now retired as the Embassy Director he is still active in a limited way in ministry and has agreed to oversee the work of the Wallenberg Centre, for which he is in any case still legally responsible in Hungary. A new board will be constituted at the beginning of 2006 since several of the initial board members are no longer active in the ministry.

So with these exciting developments in the vision and work of the Wallenberg Centre, we believe that Erika indeed heard the voice of the Lord while on a prayer walk: “Ask me for a big house in Buda”.