Raoul Wallenberg

Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat and humanitarian Naples businessman Abe Asli, 78, with right elbow leaning on statue, and other dignitaries in Stockholm in late May. Asli honored Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who helped to rescue Jews during the Holocaust of World War II. Naples businessman Abe Asli, 78, with right elbow leaning on statue, and other dignitaries in Stockholm in late May. Asli honored Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who helped to rescue Jews during the Holocaust of World War II.More It’s been more than three decades since Naples businessman Abe Asli left his beloved adopted country after 20-plus years to give his children the opportunity to live and study in the United States.

As the years passed, Asli’s love for Sweden never wavered. Nor did his abundant admiration for Raoul Wallenberg, whose heroism in the face of the horrors of the Holocaust inspired Asli to commission a bust of the late Swedish diplomat at his own expense.

“I talked to him every day,” Asli said. "I told him, ‘Don’t be sad, my friend, I’ll get you in a good place. I will never give up before I get you home.’”

In late May, what grew into a decade-long effort culminated with the unveiling of Stockholm’s first Wallenberg statue at a prominent waterfront spot in the Swedish capital.

Until recently, the bust remained in Asli’s East Naples office for nearly 10 years, he said, as he navigated from afar the byzantine twists of municipal bureaucracy in Sweden’s capital and largest city.

Wallenberg rescued thousands of Jews Frustrated at times, the 78-year-old Asli remained undeterred, enlisting support from officials not only in Sweden but also United States and Israeli diplomats.

The bust is near the site where Wallenberg (representing a neutral country in the war) was commissioned to lead a rescue operation in Budapest, Hungary, where the U.S.-educated businessman had contacts.

Sheltering both Jewish refugees and other victims of political persecution in a series of safe houses, Wallenberg was last seen in January 1945, when he left the city to meet a Soviet commander and never returned. He is believed to have died in a Soviet prison two years later.

Wallenberg is credited with saving thousands of Jews during World War II.

“He fought against injustice, and brutality ― political brutality,” Asli said. “And they killed him."

“In many, many countries, people are sitting in prison for having conversations like this,” Asli added, describing the contemporary relevance of Wallenberg’s legacy and his own efforts to keep history alive.