Controversial Rudolf Kastner - Holocaust hero or Nazi collaborator
Latest hand-picked WWII news.
Killing Kasztner - Documentary focuses on controversial Rudolf Kasztner
Toward the end of World War II, the Nazi killing machine turned its attention to Hungary. Rudolf Kasztner, a member of the community's Aid and Rescue Committee, opened talks with Adolf Eichmann, the SS officer in charge of Final Solution, to rescue Jews from the gas chambers. He saved 1,600, including his own family, obtaining a train to Switzerland in exchange for gold, diamonds and cash. He also arranged for 20,000 Hungarian Jews to be placed on hold, interned until the war ended. Kasztner's many-sided story has been recounted many times ("Perfidy" by Ben Hecht, "Kasztner`s Train" by Anna Porter), but it may get its biggest audience in "Killing Kasztner.`
(forward.com)
New books and film find hidden hero of Holocaust - Rezso Kasztner
History has not been gentle to Rezso Kasztner. He saved more Jews from death in the Holocaust than any other Jew. Reward: the accusation that he sold his soul to the devil and murder by Jewish extremists. But Kasztner's reputation may be about to be restored, over 60 years after he pulled off a "blood for money" deal with Adolph Eichmann to save Jewish lives in exchange for cash, jewels and trucks. 2 new books about Kasztner have been printed and a documentary is being prepared - All paint him as a hidden hero, a man who risked his life in countless negotiation sessions with the Nazis.
(reuters)
Dealing with Satan: Rezsö Kasztner's Daring Rescue Mission by Ladislaus Löb
When Third Reich invaded Hungary in March 1944, 750,000 Hungarian Jews were rounded up. To ease their extermination, a new branch line of the Auschwitz railway was built, bringing the cattle wagons to within yards of the gas chambers. Adolf Eichmann had isolated the Jews of Hungary, who did not believe they were at the same risk as Jews elsewhere. Dealing with Satan, a hybrid of history and memoir, tells the story of Ladislaus Löb's rescue from the Nazi death camps and the guilt of survivor. he avoided the death camp due to the efforts of Zionist Reszö Kasztner, who used his influence to negotiate with Eichmann for the release of Hungarian Jews.
(telegraph.co.uk)
The True Story of Rezső Kasztner - Unknown Hero of the Holocaust
Prior to Adolf Eichmann's trial in 1961, the most sensational proceeding in Israel was the trial of the "suspected collaborator" Hungarian Jew Rezső Kasztner (Rudolf Kastner) in 1954-1955. In Judge Benjamin Halevi's view, Kasztner considered the chance of saving a few prominent people a fair bargain for abandoning the majority. Thereby, he "had sold his soul to the devil." Halevi's original charge casts even today a dark shadow on Kasztner's historical legacy. What makes the Kasztner affair so dramatic is that he could no longer listen to the supreme court's favourable ruling because he was murdered by a fanatical nationalist.
(quillandquire.com)
Holocaust Center gets Rudolf Kasztner's archive - hero of collaborator
Israel's official Holocaust memorial and museum has unveiled the private archives of one of the most disagreed figures from the WWII-era in an attempt to exonerate his legacy. Yad Vashem officials said the material released should put an end to what it said was an unjustified smear campaign against Rudolf (Israel) Kasztner - Zionist leader in Hungary during World War II. Kasztner was hailed by admirers as a hero for saving thousands, but critics reviled him as a collaborator who "sold his soul." In 1957, after a campaign of vilification, he was assassinated by Jewish extremists.
(usatoday.com)