Gustav Wallenberg was Wallenberg’s paternal grandfather. He is described in the novel The Wallenberg Dossier. Wallenberg’s father was a distinguished naval officer who died a few months before Raoul Wallenberg was born. Gustav Wallenberg, experienced Swedish diplomat, cosmopolitan man, took over the role of mentor and educator of the young Wallenberg.
“The Wallenberg family was very distinguished both in Sweden and around the world. Raoul’s father was an officer in the Swedish navy and his paternal grandfather, Gustav, was the Ambassador to the Swedish embassy in Japan. Raoul’s uncles, Jacob and Marcus Wallenberg, were successful bankers and founded the Enskilda Bank in Sweden. Other Wallenbergs were diplomats and bishops of the Lutheran Church. His mother also came from a prestigious family. Her father, Per, was Sweden’s first professor of neurology. Maj’s great grandfather was a Jew named Benedicks who settled in Sweden and became a jeweler and eventually the financial advisor to the king.
Maj remarried in 1918, when Wallenberg was 6 years old, to Frederick von Dardel who soon rose to be the administrator of Sweden’s largest hospital, the Karolinska. The von Dardels had two children, Nina and Guy, who grew up with Raoul as close siblings.
Wallenberg’s grandfather took care of his education while he was growing up, having in his mind that he would carry on the tradition of his family as highly respected bankers, diplomats and politicians. In 1930, Raoul Wallenberg graduated from secondary school with top grades in Russian and drawing. He immediately went on to complete his nine months of compulsory military training. Following his service, Gustav Wallenberg sent him to France for a year at the University of Poitiers to perfect his French. He was already proficient in English, German and Russian.” The University of Michigan (http://wallenberg.umich.edu/raoul-wallenberg/the-story-of-raoul-wallenberg/)
