Jacob is the young Jewish boy selling cigarettes in a street in Budapest, that captures Wallenberg’s sympathy. The boy will then be saved in a high risk action by Wallenberg, who approaches one of the trains departing from Budapest, recognises the boy and manages o take him away in a high risk action narrated in the novel The Wallenberg Dossier.
The boy will then become a Mossad agent and will have a fundamental role in helping Mira rescue Wallenberg.
“A skinny child wearing a sailor cap was playing with packets of cigarettes on an upside down fruit box under the vast sky. The boy wore very short hair and an intense, bleak expression. The cap was far too large and the child had had to roll up the base but even so, it still partially covered his eyes. Robert crossed the road with the hands in the pockets and went up to him.
“Hello sir,” the boy said.
“And hello to you.”
“What’s your name?”
“Robert. And you?”
“Jacob. Are you German, sir?”
“No, I’m Swedish.”
“Where’s your country?”
“In the north, far north of here.”
“And do you have sea in your country?”
“Yes, we have sea.”
Robert looked at the packets of cigarettes piled on the box and felt for some money in his pocket. The boy read his intention.
“Which one?”
“That blue one,” Robert replied.
“Is that sea big enough that you cannot see over to the other side, sir?” The boy handed him the packet.
“Yes, it is.”
Quoted from chapter 2 of The Wallenberg Dossierwith permission of the author.