Sweden declares Holocaust hero Wallenberg died in 1952

Wallenberg is credited with rescuing 100,000 Jews from the Holocaust while stationed in Hungary during World War II. He was last seen in Budapest on January 17, 1945, when Soviet forces seized the city from German troops. Soviet records state that he died in a Moscow prison in 1947, but there has long been speculation over whether that account is accurate.

Skatteverket has now declared that Wallenberg died five years later than the Soviet account claims, with the Swede instead meeting his end in 1952. “He is deemed to have died on 31st of July, 1952,” the tax authority told Swedish tabloid Expressen.

For years, Wallenberg’s family have fought to uncover his exact fate, as well as honour his legacy. Last year they submitted a request to Skatteverket to have him officially declared dead in what they called "a way to deal with the trauma we lived through, to bring one phase to closure and move on".