[1] Tenembaum was born in Argentina at Las Palmeras colony, a Santa Fe provincial settlement for Jewish immigrants escaping from the Russian pogroms of 1880.
[2][citation needed] On January 31, 1976, Baruch Tenembaum was kidnapped by rightwing extremists belonging to Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A), a clandestine state terrorist organization founded under the aegis of José López Rega during the government of President Isabel Perón.
The kidnappers accused him of "infecting the Catholic Church with the virus of Judaism" and "spreading ideas of alleged coexistence so as to destroy Christian principles" through his inter-faith work, which they claimed would lead to the destruction of the Creole republic.
While Tenembaum was in captivity, Father Horacio Moreno spoke in his support, calling for his freedom from his pulpit at Fatima Church, and later holding a face-to-face meeting with the kidnappers who described themselves as "concerned Catholics".
[3] The mural, the first of its kind, was inaugurated by the Cardinal of Argentina and Archbishop of Buenos Aires Antonio Quarracino and unveiled by Tenembaum and Lech Wałęsa in April 1997.
[4][5][6] He was invited by Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, to a meeting held on the 90th anniversary of Wallenberg's birth at the Secretary General's residence in New York.
In October 2003, United States Congressman Tom Lantos, who Wallenberg had saved from the Nazis,[7] made a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives to honor Tenembaum, and had a fuller tribute inserted into the Congressional Record.