Year: 1983
Language: English
Format: 16mm Colour
Runtime: 78 min
Director: David Harel
Producer: Wayne Arron, David Harel
Executive Producer: David Yorke
Writer: Peter Lauterman, David Harel
Cinematographer: David Yorke
Editor: Roushell Goldstein
Sound: John Megill
Music: Tony Kosinec, Jack Lenz
Narration: Pierre Berton
Production Company: Rubicon Film Productions Inc.

This intricate and well-researched documentary tells the little-known story of Raoul Wallenberg, the extraordinary Swedish diplomat who personally managed to save thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust, only to be arrested by the Russians after the war and accused of being an American spy. The real strength of this film is in the numerous interviews with survivors who owe their lives to Wallenberg’s intervention. Fully understanding the German obsession with bureaucratic formality, he forged highly detailed Swedish visas to fool the Nazis and literally snatched people from the jaws of death. The last part of the film focuses on the persistent rumours of Wallenberg’s life in the Soviet gulags.

Raoul Wallenberg Buried Alive won a Genie Award for Feature Documentary. A one-hour version of the film entitled Hitler’s Number One Enemy: Buried Alive was broadcast on PBS television in October of 1983.