The mystery of Raoul Wallenberg

The mystery of Raoul Wallenberg

Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis during World War Two.

Once Soviet troops reached Budapest, Wallenberg reported to Soviet officials on 17 January 1945. But he was never seen in public again. Rumours of his fate have circled ever since: a Soviet government report said he died of a heart attack in prison, while former officials said he was executed, and prisoners claimed to have seen him decades later. There is still a campaign to uncover what happened to him.

Alex Last made this programme in 2015 using archive recordings.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Raoul Wallenberg in 1937. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

Episoder(2000)

The Good Friday Agreement

The Good Friday Agreement

In 1998, the political parties in Northern Ireland reached a peace agreement that ended decades of war. But the Good Friday Agreement, as it became known, was only reached after days of frantic last-minute negotiations. In 2012, Louise Hidalgo spoke to Paul Murphy, the junior minister for Northern Ireland at the time.PHOTO: Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (L) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (R) pose with the mediator of the agreement, Senator George Mitchell. (AFP/Getty Images)

30 Mar 20188min

Mapping the Ocean's Secrets

Mapping the Ocean's Secrets

The publication of a map of the floor of the Atlantic ocean in 1957 by an American female cartographer, Marie Tharp, helped to change forever the way we view our world. Her discovery of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge was eventually taken as evidence of the theory of plate tectonics. Yet her work was initially dismissed as 'girls' talk', her colleague geologist Bill Ryan tells Louise Hidalgo.Picture: Marie Tharp working on a map of the ocean floor at Columbia University in the 1960s. (Credit: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory courtesy of the Marie Tharp estate)

29 Mar 20189min

The 'Oasis of Peace'

The 'Oasis of Peace'

In 1978 a small community called Wahat al-Salam, Neve Shalom, was founded by four families, Jews and Arabs, on a hill-top between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It was a pioneering experiment in peaceful co-existence in the long Middle East conflict. Four decades on, it is now home to more than 60 families. Mike Lanchin travels to the community and speaks to two of its long-standing residents, Nava Sonnenschein and Daoud Boulus about life in this "oasis of peace."(Photo courtesy of Daoud Boulus)

28 Mar 20189min

Sarajevo: Singing for Peace

Sarajevo: Singing for Peace

After the bitter Bosnian war in the 1990's, Catholic Monk, Friar Ivo Markovic, launched a multi-faith choir to bring survivors of the violence together and promote understanding between different ethnic groups. The choir is called "Pontanima", an invented word based on Latin that means, "bridge among souls". Rebecca Kesby spoke to Friar Ivo and saw the choir perform. (PHOTO: Members of the Pontanima Choir of Sarajevo: Courtesy of The Woolf Institute)

27 Mar 201811min

First Women on the London Stock Exchange

First Women on the London Stock Exchange

London's Stock Exchange, one of the world's oldest, welcomed women as members for the first time in March 1973. It meant they could earn much more money, as partners in their firms. It also meant they were finally allowed to cross the famous trading floor. Hilary Pearson told Claire Bowes how she and a handful of other women made their way in a very traditional man's world.Photo: One of the first women to be admitted to the floor of the London Stock exchange, 26th March 1973. (Credit: Arthur Jones/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

26 Mar 20189min

Who Killed Luis Colosio?

Who Killed Luis Colosio?

On 23 March 1994 the presidential candidate for Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, was shot dead in the border town of Tijuana. Luis Donaldo Colosio, who was expected to be the country's next leader, was killed when out campaigning. A sole gunman is still in jail for his murder, but Alfonso Durazo, Colosio's former private secretary, tells Mike Lanchin why he believes the murder was part of a wider political plot.Photo taken from Televisa TV broadcast showing amateur video footage of the moment that Luis Colosio was about to be shot dead during a campaign rally (credit: TELEVISA/AFP/Getty Images)

23 Mar 20189min

The Skull Valley Sheep Kill

The Skull Valley Sheep Kill

In March 1968 more than 6,000 sheep died while grazing close to the Dugway Proving Ground, the US military's leading chemical warfare testing site, located in the US state of Utah. One theory was that they were killed by a nerve agent. Deputy Sheriff William Pitt arrived at the scene as some of the sheep were still in convulsions. He has been telling Mike Lanchin about that strange event, which became known as the Skull Valley Sheep Kill.Photo: Two farmers checking the corpses of dead sheep on a farm ranch, possibly connected to a chemical and biological warfare testing at Dugway Proving Ground, March 1968. (Photo by Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images)

22 Mar 20189min

Radiocarbon Dating of the Turin Shroud

Radiocarbon Dating of the Turin Shroud

The Turin Shroud is one of the most revered relics of the Catholic Church: a piece of linen cloth that appears to show the imprint of a blood-stained crucified man. Some Christians believe it is the ancient cloth that Jesus Christ was buried in. In 1988, the Church allowed scientists to perform a radiocarbon dating test on a small sample of the shroud. The results are still controversial. In 2016 Rob Walker spoke to Professor Michael Tite who supervised the testing process. This programme is a rebroadcast.(Photo: Picture showing a facsimile of the Shroud of Turin at the Cathedral of Malaga. Credit: Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images)

22 Mar 20188min

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