- Harald Edelstam
Harald Edelstam (1913–1989) was a Swedish
diplomat . DuringWorld War II he earned the nickname "Svarta nejlikan" ("the Black Pimpernel," a reference toThe Scarlet Pimpernel ) for helping SOE agents and saboteurs escape from the Germans. During the 1970s he was stationed inSantiago, Chile , and became known as the "Raoul Wallenberg of the 1970s" when he helped Cuban diplomats and Uruguayan political refugees escape persecution byAugusto Pinochet .One night during a
coup , the Cubanembassy was under fire by tanks and Cubans were returning fire from the windows; Edelstam took a Swedish flag in hand and walked in front of the tanks as bullets hurled past. He fetched the Cubans out of the embassy and took them to the Swedish embassy, then got them out ofChile to safety. [ [http://www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/20thcentury/81-11baez-speech.html Joan Baez: Human Rights In The 80s: Seeing Through Both Eyes] ] Edelstam also helped many other Cubans to escape from Chile and was honored byFidel Castro as a hero.Due to his remarkable courage and moral integrity, Edelstam is today considered as a true modern-day hero among millions around Latin America, and particularly so among the hundreds of thousands of Chileans who were forced into exile by the dictatorial regime.
A film about Edelstam's actvities in Chile, "
The Black Pimpernel ," was released in September 2007.References
* [http://www.amnesty.dk/default.asp?page=2822&lang=da
Isabel Allende on Harald Edelstamm in an interview withAmnesty International ]
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