Flamm Ferenc 1946
Born in Budapest to parents who had been saved by Raoul Wallenberg, Flamm studied there at the Art College and the Hungarian Academy of Applied Art. As the child of survivers living in the anti-Semitic atmopshere of post-war Hungary, he and his two brothers were taught to keep their Jewishness secret. But even when very young, Flamm was aware that he owed his life to Wallenberg. "We have almost inserted him into our prayers at home", he says, "I had learned early on that that which is Swedish means hope and life." That may explain why, in 1976, Flamm emigrated to Sweden, where he now lives with his wife and four children. In 1987 Flamm suddenly came face to face with his Jewish past. That year both his parents died in Budapest, and his brothers sent him a small package which his mother had hidden away: his murdered grandfather's kipah, tallit and siddur, together with a pair of old Sabbath candlesticks, his mother's yellow star, and the two Wallenberg protection passports. In a startling foreshadowing of the Baal Shem Tov's tale "The Prayer Book" which Flamm had not yet read, these precious pieces emerging from years of obscurity became fro Flamm what he calls his "baggage for the journey back to the Heritage" - his passport "to a new perspective" - the world of 17th century European Jewry.
/Part of the book The Legends of the Baal Shem Tov/
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