Interview:Gaylen Ross, Producer/Director of the New Film, Killing Kasztner

A film that will change the way we think about Holocaust rescue. 

Here is a 35 minute interview I did this afternoon with Gaylen Ross. Killing Kasztner is an astounding film – one you should see no matter your position on Kasztner:

Killing Kasztner - The Website.

Previous Posts Mentioning Kasztner.

An article on the film translated from Hebrew:

 
Photo subtitle: "I lifted my hand with the gun..."
Photo caption: "Killing Kasztner. No end to the film nor the affair."


ISRAEL TODAY  April 21, 2009
A Slice of Life" / Shir Ziv


A Slice of Life
Killing Kasztner, Channel 8, 21:05

There are few stories that contain an historic mystery, a courtroom drama, a political murder, and a family saga. In the complex story of Dr. Israel Kasztner, that is just the tip of the iceberg. The fact that channel 8 chose to dedicate a two hour film to him, on the eve of Holocaust memorial day, is a statement in itself. Traditionally, this evening is dedicated to the personal stories of the survivors. Each of them has a story, and all incite strong feelings: pity, pain, sadness, amazement. One thing they do not raise: discussion. The film about Kasztner does just that, and thus takes the viewer through a different experience, of the sort that raises questions of values and moral dilemmas.


Gaylen Ross, a Jewish documentary film director with a respected record, including an Emmy win, provides this alternative view of a painful wound of the Jewish people. She came to Israel and chose to follow two key subjects: Zsuzsi, Kasztner's daughter, and Zev Eckstein, his murderer. One of the climaxes of the film is at a charged meeting between them. Ross weaves a plot around a search for answers. The questions are known to everyone, but were suppressed in the Israeli convention for a long time: Who was Dr. Kasztner really? A traitor who "sold his soul to the devil", or a hero worthy of global fame? "A scapegoat", as is proclaimed by one interviewee in the film, or the man who chose to "play God" and seal fates for life and death?



As in the courtroom, the director brought forth witnesses from both sides, and created a case for Kasztner, but instead of cementing his sentence, she allows the viewers to judge for themselves. With the perspective of a foreigner, Ross begins her journey in awe of the work of this rescuer of Jews - the man who negotiated with Eichmann and saved over 1,600 Hungarian Jews who were supposed to be shipped off to Auschwitz. Zsuzsi's family members, especially her daughter Merav Michaeli, showed Ross the neglects, the sacrifice, and the repression they suffered. "It never happened", complains Michaeli about the building of the Israeli narrative, claiming that history rid itself of Kasztner to make room for other heroes. Ross did not skimp, and brought forth the opposition: in addition to Eckstein, the assassin who killed the man that many saw as a traitor deserving of death for collaborating with the Nazis, Ross collected supporting testimony from Uri Avneri and the son of the attorney Shmuel Tamir. She also did not leave out the survivors themselves, thankful and appreciative, and also some completely apathetic. A picture began to emerge, but question marks remained hanging.

It takes a skilled hand to deal with this colossal drama, and Ross succeeds in connecting all the different parts with sensitivity, while not forgetting the decisive influence of the libel trial (which became the Kasztner trial) on the young country. "We couldn't even have imagined it. Who could imagine such a thing?" Avneri confessed about the feelings that emerged among those who first learned of the horrors of the Holocaust through the trial. But there is no end to this film, nor for the affair. The hurt still lives in the hearts of the Kasztner family. They are still waiting for their "happy ending", for total vindication. Kasztner was labeled a collaborator after his death. At the same time, more black stains are exposed from his past. The man was and remains an unsolved riddle. A sharp intellectual, a heart-breaker, brave or a show-off. It is difficult to think of another character such as Kasztner - in or out of the theater. 

Comments

[Avi]

Any plans for a London release?

[Gaylen]

An abbreviated version of the film was broadcast on BBC's premiere documentary series "Storyville" last May. And it was shown as a special event in the UK Jewish Film Festival. We hope to show the again in a screening in the fall. And it will likely rebroadcast on BBC.

[joe]

very nice for the film to open on a fall Friday so a person like me who wants to be given the chance to hear both sides wont be able to go I am suprized that this blogs owner wouldn't ask about the Friday issue or maybe shabbos is of no concern for you

[Shmarya]

So go Saturday night or Sunday.

[effie]

i>So go Saturday night or Sunday.

Solomon! lol

[Michael Ezra]

In my opinion, Gaylen Ross's film, Killing Kasztner, is fatally flawed. In a number of areas viewers are either presented with a distorted picture or kept ignorant of important relevant information.

To provide some examples of problems with the documentary:

1. Parachutists

The documentary makes a reference at the beginning that three Jewish parachutists from Palestine arrived in Hungary, but notes that they were caught. What is not mentioned is that after the most famous of these parachutists, Hannah Szenes was caught, her mother, who was living in Hungary, tried to obtain help from Kasztner. Not only on a number of occasions was Kasztner not available to see her, requests for parcels and legal assistance for Hannah were not forthcoming. Hannah Szenes was ultimately shot by the Hungarians. The two other parachutists, Palgi (Nussbacher) and Goldstein made their way to Budapest. Kasztner himself informed the Gestapo of their presence. Moreover, as a result of moral pressure by Kasztner, both of these parachutists gave themselves up to the Nazis. Goldstein died in a concentration camp.[1]

2. Jews sent to Strashoff in Vienna.

The historian Shlomo Aronson is interviewed in the film and he attributes the fact that most of the 15,000-18,000 Jews who were sent to Strasshof survived the war to Kasztner. This is false. Kasztner neither initiated this action or can claim any credit for the fact that most of these Jews survived the war. Aronson does not even make that claim in his own book that deals with the subject.[2]

The reason why these Jews were sent to Vienna was that the Mayor of Vienna wanted slave labour and sent a request to Eichmann's boss Ernst Kaltenbrunner who gave orders to provide them.[3]Adolf Eichmann, in his famous trial in Jerusalem, attempted to use the fact that many of these Jews survived in his own defence. The judges, correctly, did not accept this argument. They said that Eichmann had to accept this order from Kaltenrunner and specifically stated:

"If some of these Jews were finally saved from the fate which was in store for them, this was not thanks to the Accused, but because extermination by gassing at Auschwitz was stopped in October or November 1944."[4]

By broadcasting this claim by Aronson, Gaylen Ross, who made the documentary film, assists in distorting the history of the Holocaust.

3. Selection of people portrayed in the documentary.

Much time in the film is devoted to Kasztner's daughter and other relations. For example the film shows Kasztner's daughter visiting an Israeli museum for Hungarian Jews and then her walking out upset that there is no prominent display of her father. Had Ross used some time in the film to interview a Hungarian Jewish survivor of the Holocaust who had been sent to Auschwitz, a good reason why Kasztner is not thought of highly by the Hungarian survivors would have been available to viewers.

Kasztner knew about Auschwitz substantially in advance of the Nazis invading Hungary. He never denied this fact and even supporters of Kasztner admit that this was the case. Oskar Schindler told Kasztner in November 1943 that Jews were "gassed and burnt" according to a "scientific system" in Auschwitz.[5]

Despite this knowledge by Kasztner, numerous testimonies show that the Jews of Hungary were boarded trains to Auschwitz without any idea of where they were going. To provide an example, we can consider what the Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elli Wiesel had to say. He commented that when his train pulled into the station and someone who was near a window in his carriage read the name "Auschwitz" that nobody in his carriage "had ever heard that name."[6]

The leading scholar on the Holocaust in Hungary, Professor Randolph Braham commented:

"As almost all the memoirs by survivors from Kolozsvar attest, the Jews were not only left in the dark about the secrets of Auschwitz, but in fact were misinformed: while most of the leaders escaped on the eve of ghettoization and/or mass deportations, the masses were reassured that they were only being 'relocated to Kanyermezo.'"[7]

As well as a myth being spread that the Jews were going to Kanyermezo, A further trick of the Nazis to mislead the Jewish population was to get Jews who had been deported to Auschwitz, often shortly before they were gassed to death, to write postcards to relatives with simple phrases such as "Arrived safely. I am well." These postcards were stamped with another fictitious place - Waldsee.[8] According to the eyewitness testimony of Moshe Krausz who was head of the Palestine Office in Hungary, these postcards were distributed on the instructions of Rudolf Kasztner.[9]

In fact, Kasztner was so hated by many of the Jews of Hungary who survived the Holocaust that some wanted to try him as a war criminal. This was unanimously decided by a group of Communists, Liberals and Zionists from Kasztner's home town of Kolozsvar in 1945.[10]

Kasztner never did return to Hungary after the war. Had he done so, according to the testimony of Yosef Krause, he would have been "torn to pieces" by the local population.[11]

Had Gaylen Ross deigned to interview Hungarian Jewish survivors from Auschwitz, viewers of her documentary may have been aware of some of this information.

Conclusion

In my opinion Gaylen Ross should be given credit for getting Kasztner's daughter together with the person that shot her father. Despite this, her documentary is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews sent to Auschwitz without a clue as to where they were headed,many of whom perished in the gas chambers of Birkenau shortly after arrival.

References:

[1]Judith Tydor Baumel, "'Parachuting to Their People' - the Operation of Parachutist-Emissaries During World War II in Historical Perspective," Yad Vashem Studies XXV (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1996) pp. 137-180. Also Palgi's report available in the National Archives in London UK - file reference WO 208/3405

[2]Shlomo Aronson,Hitler, the Allies and the Jews (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006) p.276

[3]See letter from Kaltenbrunner to S.S. Brigadefuehrer Blaschke - Document 3803-PS, Exhibit USA 802 at the Nuremberg trial. The relevant passages can be seen on line at the following address:
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-11/tgmwc-11-106-09.shtml

[4]See the judgement in the Eichmann Trial section 116 available on line at
http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/Eichmannm.htm

[5]Ladislaus Lob, Dealing With Satan: Rezso Kasztner's Daring Rescue Mission, (London: Jonathan Cape, 2005)pp.54-55

[6]Elie Wiesel, Night, (London: Penguin Books,2006) p. 26

[7] Randolph L. Braham,"Rescue Operations in Hungary: Myths and Realities," Yad Vashem Studies XXXII (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004)p.27n5. This article is currently available free on line at the following location:
http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_HOLocaust/studies/vol32/pdf/E021_058.PDF

[8]Randolph L. Braham,The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary, Volume 2, (New York, Columbia University Press: Revised and Enlarged Edition, 1994) p.737

[9]See the testimony of Moshe Krausz in the case of The Attorney General against Malkiel Gruenvald in the District Court of Jerusalem - Case 124/53. This testimony was reproduced in Shmuel Tamir's published memoirs available in Hebrew.

[10]Macabee Kaskin,"'Kastner Wanted For Trial' in Cluj," Jerusalem Post,June 18, 1954

[11] Ibid.

[MalachHamovies]

Old article from YNet !!

By the way, what the article doesn't say is that Cohen who was a Lehi hit man and who was involved with the killing of count bernadette became the personal bodyguard of ben-gurion

Nahum Barnea

Don’t imitate Ben-Gurion

Peres better not follow in Ben-Gurion's footsteps on the issue of pardons

Published: 07.31.07, 00:17 / Israel Opinion

Immediately after taking up the presidency Shimon Peres visited the grave of David Ben-Gurion at Sde Boker. The visit was designed to express more than just a simple gesture by a student towards his admired mentor. Peres sought to state: I am the successor.

The question is: The successor to what? Ben-Gurion was a great leader, and like any great leader his shortcomings were also great. It would be very unfortunate if President Peres imitates Ben-Gurion's shortcomings.

The pardon of criminals is one of the only powers bestowed on the president. In a previous article, I suggested that Peres should Advertisement



not rush into exercising this power. He chose to act differently. The first to benefit was Naomi Blumenthal. The next candidates for clemency are violent criminals from the disengagement period, and peeking through the horizon is the possible clemency request for Omri Sharon and many others; the extent of the investigations equals the extent of the clemencies.

A law professor, Reuven Yaron, sent me a fascinating article he published in the Nation periodical on this subject 10 years ago. Yaron examined why and how the perpetrators of the first political assassination in Israel, the murder of Dr Israel Kastner, were pardoned.

Kastner, a leader of the Zionist movement in Hungary, is primarily remembered today as the grandfather of broadcaster Meirav Michaeli. During the Holocaust he negotiated with the Nazis in an attempt to save Jews and testified in favor of a Nazi following the Holocaust.

A religious wheeler-dealer named Malchiel Gruenwald published harsh accusations against him. The dispute made it to the courts. The district court ruled in favor of Gruenwald. The High Court ruled in favor of Kastner. In 1957 Kastner was murdered. Three people were convicted of the murder: Yossef Menkes, Ze'ev Eckstein and Dan Shemer.

Shemer was thought to have been a minor accomplice and his sentence was commuted. Justice Minister Dov Yosef and President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi fiercely rejected the requests to mitigate the sentences of the other two.

Ben-Gurion the king

Menkes had a close acquaintance: Yehoshua Cohen from the Lehi underground movement. Cohen joined Kibbutz Sde Boker and befriended Ben-Gurion. In joint walks on the Negev roads, Cohen badgered Ben- Gurion about the need to release Menkes, because otherwise he would lose his sanity. Eckstein was connected to the Shin Bet. Ben-Gurion and the person in charge of security services, Isser Harel, handled the clemency as if there was no minister of justice or president.

Yaron premised his research on a book by Yechiel Weiss and on the diaries of Ben-Gurion. Ben-Gurion discussed the matter with Harel, the head of the Shin Bet Amos Manor, and with Yehoshua Cohen. He sent the head of the Shin Bet to convince Kastner's widow and daughter to allow the release of the murderers to go through.

After the head of the Shin Bet successfully completed the assignment, the prime minister remained with one concern: How to convince Menkes not to murder another person. For example – the justice that sentenced him to life imprisonment.

"Amos Manor maintains that if Yehoshu Cohen, Israel Eldad and Rabbi Levine would testify in favor of Menkes, the matter would almost be guaranteed," wrote Ben-Gurion. He highlighted the word "almost."

Ben-Gurion only informed the justice minister later on. Dov Yosef refused. He maintained that Yehoshua Cohen's opinion on the mental state of the murderer was dubious and demanded to bring in a psychiatrist. His request was rejected. He later agreed to negotiate the matter and finally capitulated.

Meanwhile, Ben-Zvi passed away. Zalman Shazar was elected in his place. The day he entered office in May 1963, he received a detailed recommendation from the justice minister and immediately complied. Shemer was released within a few days, while Menkes and Eckstein were released within five months. They served a six-and-a-half year prison sentence - small change where murder is concerned, and for a political murder at that.

Professor Yaron reconstructed Shazar's first day in office. It was a very busy day. Shazar didn't have the time to seriously read the files placed on his desk. Ben-Gurion wanted it, the justice minister gave in, and Shazar signed. "I am happy that I can grant grace on my first day," the president said festively, and thus the matter came to an end.

Ben-Gurion handled this affair as though he were a king, not a prime minister in a democratic country. What kind of a king are you if you can't grant a favor to a friend. Peres will do well if he chooses not to follow in his footsteps.

[Reader]

The revision of history to whitewash Nazi crimes is really incredible and it is done by Jews.

[Michael Ezra]

Reader,

I concur with your point and I also find it astonishing that there are those that defend Kasztner even when it is known that he testified on behalf of a number of Nazi war criminals.

Consider the following:

Kasztner testified for Kurt Becher, Hermann Krumey and Dieter Wisliceny and others. Considering these three:

Becher was Himmler's personal agent and extorted money and other valuables from the Hungarian Jews.

Krumey was Eichmann's partner and accomplice in the murder of millions of Jews in Poland, the USSR and Hungary.

Wisliceny coordinated the Final Solution in Slovakia and Greece and the ghettoization of 450,000 Hungarian Jews in advance of their deportation to Auschwitz.

In Gaylen Ross's documentary, only a short period of time is devoted to Kasztner's testimonies and viewers are not made aware of the crimes of those for whom he testified. Ross interviews Shosana Barri to discuss these testimonies. Barri has looked into this area and whilst her conclusions are controversial, even she can not explain why Kasztner may have testified for Krumey. As she states in her paper on the matter: "Kastner's statements on his behalf remain unexplained."*

Those that are trying to portray Kasztner as some kind of hero, including Anna Porter in her travesty of history, Kasztner's Train, are simply shrugging their shoulders about this matter.**

* Shoshana Barri (Ishoni) “The Question of Kastner’s Testimonies on Behalf of Nazi War Criminals,” The Journal of Israeli History, Vol. 18 No. 2 and 3 (Summer and Autumn 1997) pp.139-165

**For a reasonably detailed highly critical review of Anna Porter's book, see the one prepared by Gábor Kádár and Zoltán Vági and published this month (August 2009) in East Europe Jewish Affairs (Vol. 39. No. 2, pp.310-314)

[Michael Ezra]

I apologise but there is a slight typing error in the above post. The title of the journal for Gábor Kádár and Zoltán Vági's review is East European Jewish Affairs and not East Europe Jewish Affairs as stated.

[Shmarya]

Please.

1. Michael Ezra is a self -proclaimed "hedge fund guru." He is not a trained historian or journalist.

2. The vast majority of living historians of the Holocaust disagree with him.

(Actually, that's putting it mildly. Ezra is a wing nut.)

3. Becher (and Himmler) saved tens of thousands of Jews at the end of war. That doesn't make either righteous gentiles, to say the least. But it does mean something.

Kasztner helped get Becher to save those Jews. If Kasztner felt Becher deserved a letter of support at his war crimes trial as a result, so be it.

4. One thing is certain. If Michael Ezra had been there, it is highly unlikely Ezra would have saved anyone – perhaps with th exception of himself.

[Avi]

"BBC's premiere documentary series "Storyville" "

Funny I've never heard of it. Will keep my eyes peeled.

[Michael Ezra]

I shall ignore the uncalled for and unwarranted personal attacks on me by Shmarya, but I shall comment on two matters.

1. Shmarya argues that the "vast majority of living historians of the Holocaust" disagree with me. I would be interested to see if Shmarya, or anyone else for that matter, (including any Holocaust Historians if they are reading), can point to any facts, as opposed to opinion, that specifically disagree with any facts that I have presented in my above posts. I somehow doubt it.

2. Shmarya states the following:

Becher (and Himmler) saved tens of thousands of Jews at the end of war. That doesn't make either righteous gentiles, to say the least. But it does mean something.

I am almost at a loss for words. Himmler was one of the most senior Nazis away from Hitler and the most senior one responsible for the murder of millions of Jews. I am astonished that a Jew might give him any credit at all.

Given the enormity of the Holocaust, I will present a different small scale example to expose the ludicrousness of this point:

Imagine a gunman walked into a school classroom of 30 children and a teacher. Let us say the gunman shot the teacher dead, held the school children hostage for a week, gave them no food, and every day shot four of them dead. After he kills 29 of the children, with the police surrounding the building and he has no chance of escape, he finally surrenders. One child, starving hungry, survives this ordeal. Would Shmarya give credit to this gunman for "saving" the last child?

[Shmarya]

I shall ignore the uncalled for and unwarranted personal attacks on me by Shmarya

Why ignore them. You have no credential and are widely viewed as a crazy. Those are facts.

What you write is insane. Of course, you probably are, as well.

As for my point about Becher and Himmler, it doesn't take close reading to see you twisted it.

Clearly neither are righteous gentiles and neither was altruistic.

But both saved Jews at the end of the war. One of them, Becher, did so even after Himmler withdrew his backing for doing it. Becher and Kasztner stopped thousands of executions and saved thousands of Jewish lives.

You don't like that? Tough. There are hundreds of thousands of Jews alive today because Kasztner got Becher to stop the killings.

You're a sick man, Ezra. Seek help.

[Michael Ezra]

The reason why I will ignore the personal attacks which are becoming more and more hysterical is that I wish to discuss Kasztner and not myself.

I will now comment on your suggestion that Becher and Himmler "saved thousand of Jewish lives."

I will quote directly from Gábor Kádár and Zoltán Vági on the idea that Becher can claim any credit for saving Jews in the Pest ghetto in Hungary at the end of the war:

It is absolutely certain that Becher's role as protector of the ghetto is nothing but a story concocted out of thin air. Becher himself at any rate had no idea that he had no idea that he was supposed to be the savior of the Pest ghetto.

Of all people, at Nuremberg it was Kasztner who was allowed to interrogate Becher. Below is a transcript of part of that interrogation:

Kasztner: "The key word is Budapest. Up and until now the story of the Budapest ghetto has been told in many different ways. Now I would like to hear your story, free from any external influence, then I am going to ask you some questions."

Becher: "I need to be enlightened about the Budapest ghetto. Do you mean Columbus Street?" [Columbus Street was where the Jews enrolled for the Kasztner Train were staying under SS protection.]

K: "No, I mean the ones whom Eichmann left behind in Budapest after the marches on foot. They were settled in certain district of town."

B: "You mean the Jews who stayed in Budapest after we stopped the marches on foot?"

K: "Yes."

B: "Unfortunately, I do not know about this. Until this very moment, I did not know that these people had been ghettoized."

K: "Pull yourself together, because this is a very important question.You will recall it."

If Becher was the saviour of thousands of Jews, one might think he might remember the point when he is being interrogated as a war criminal!

As the interrogation continued, Kasztner kept trying to make Becher remember that he saved thousands of Jews but Becher could simply not remember. He told Kasztner, "Please point me in the right direction."

As one reads the interrogation, it is obvious that Gábor Kádár and Zoltán Vági's conclusion is accurate:

Becher was not aware of his own role as "savior of the ghetto," and ... Kasztner's story about this is absolutely untrustworthy.

Reference:

Gábor Kádár and Zoltán Vági, Self-Financing Genocide: The Gold Train, the Becher Case and the Wealth of Hungarian Jews, (Budapest: Central European Press, 2004) pp. 235-237

[Michael Ezra]

Annoyingly, there is a typing error above. I quote Gábor Kádár and Zoltán Vági as saying:

Becher himself at any rate had no idea that he had no idea that he was supposed to be the savior of the Pest ghetto.

It should be:

Becher himself at any rate had no idea that he was supposed to be the savior of the residents of the Pest ghetto.

[Shmarya]

The reason why I will ignore the personal attacks which are becoming more and more hysterical is that I wish to discuss Kasztner and not myself.

You are completely unreliable and not mentally stable. Your personal situation is germane.

You quote out of context, you rip statements from context, and you ignore any fact that disproves you.

That documents exist proving Becher saved Jews doesn't matter to you – demonizing Kasztner does.

You're sick.

And, as I wrote before, if you had been there then the only person you might have saved is yourself.

[Shmarya]

It is absolutely certain that Becher's role as protector of the ghetto is nothing but a story concocted out of thin air. Becher himself at any rate had no idea that he had no idea that he was supposed to be the savior of the Pest ghetto.

This is an example of your maliciousness.

The claim historians make based on hard evidence is that in the last months of the war Becher and Kasztner went to death camps and, using orders from Himmler, stopped mass killings.

I never made the claim that Becher protected the Pest ghetto.

Taking a snippet of a long interrogation out of context is an example of your disease.

Pretending that snippet addresses a claim I made not only shows your bias and your illness, but it clearly shows that you are malicious.

I allow anyone to comment here but I do not allow people to lie. What you did here is worse than a lie. Comment no further.

Process that.

[Shmarya]

B: "You mean the Jews who stayed in Budapest after we stopped the marches on foot?"

So Becher here says he and Kasztner stopped death marches.

B: "Unfortunately, I do not know about this. Until this very moment, I did not know that these people had been ghettoized."

Becher then says he did not know that those people had subsequently been ghettoized.

That is all that snippet of the interrogation says, and that is what it means.

Now go find a therapist who can help you and leave normal people, both living and dead, alone.

You will not comment here anymore. You are banned.

[Disillusioned]

Shmarya,

For a couple of years I've been reading your blog. I admired your campaigning for Ethiopian Jews and your principled stand against the fundamentalist frauds. After seeing how you treated Ezra today, I'll never visit your pages again.

Instead of using facts and documentation to make your case, you answered someone who did with scurrilous, defamatory insults. Your victim resisted the temptation to reply in kind. And you blocked him anyway.

The only explanation for your shameful outburst is that you're wrong and deep down you know it. Let me tell you: things will look even worse when people see the lengthy "Kasztner Affair Revisited" chapter in Randolph Braham's next book on the Holocaust in Hungary (I read it in draft) which puts all the Kasztner "rescue" myths through a scholarly meatgrinder, proves (yet again) that he was a collaborator and brings new evidence that he was an outright Nazi agent. Randolph Braham is the foremost historian of the Holocaust in Hungary and his family was murdered by the Nazis. You'll probably call him malicious, unstable, sick and diseased as well, if the nastiness you showed here is any guide.

As for the revisionist obscenity about Becher (and Himmler!) saving "hundreds of thousands" of Jews in the camps thanks to Kasztner, we needn't wait for Braham's book for a debunking of that particular tale. Kadar and Vagi examined the episode in Self-Financing Genocide and found that the Himmler/Becher/Kasztner trio didn't "save" Jews at all. Simple common sense should have told you that.

In closing this comment (and my interest in your blog) I'll remind you of your own commenting rules: "Try to argue using facts and logic. No name-calling, please." So Shmarya, why not follow your own principles, unblock Ezra and block yourself until you're ready to behave like a Mensch.

Goodbye.

[Shmarya]

nstead of using facts and documentation to make your case, you answered someone who did with scurrilous, defamatory insults. Your victim resisted the temptation to reply in kind. And you blocked him anyway.

They are not scurrilous or defamatory – they are accurate and correct.

Past that, I clearly showed above that Ezra is completely and intentionally misrepresenting the facts and their context.

The only explanation for your shameful outburst is that you're wrong and deep down you know it.

No/ I'm not wrong. The explanation is that Ezra is a liar.

The only explanation for your shameful outburst is that you're wrong and deep down you know it. Let me tell you: things will look even worse when people see the lengthy "Kasztner Affair Revisited" chapter in Randolph Braham's next book on the Holocaust in Hungary (I read it in draft) which puts all the Kasztner "rescue" myths through a scholarly meatgrinder, proves (yet again) that he was a collaborator and brings new evidence that he was an outright Nazi agent.

And David Irving 'proves' the Holocaust did not happen.

As for the revisionist obscenity about Becher (and Himmler!) saving "hundreds of thousands" of Jews in the camps thanks to Kasztner, we needn't wait for Braham's book for a debunking of that particular tale. Kadar and Vagi examined the episode in Self-Financing Genocide and found that the Himmler/Becher/Kasztner trio didn't "save" Jews at all. Simple common sense should have told you that.

Please.

I never said hundreds of thousands, On top of your bias, you can't read well.

Past that, no one proved anything of the sort.

It is abundantly clear that Becher with Kasztner did at the very end of the war stop mass killings.

People like you and Ezra selectively quote, quote material out of context and lie.

People who do that have no place here.

You said goodbye – I say good riddance.

[Shmarya]

I should also note that Braham's 2002 book states as fact – but without citing any academic sources to back it up – that the Jews were not warned by the rescue committee, the Vada or the Orthodox leaders – all of whom, he says, knew about Auschwitz.

Braham is a survivor from Hungary whose family was in an area where most Jews were killed early, well before the Holocaust got to Kluj or Budapest. He carries great resentment and hate for the Jewish leaders of Budapest.

But understand what his position is – every Jewish leader, all the people on Kasztner's train, all the others, Rabbi Wiessmandl (he mentions him by name), etc., all of them knew about Auschwitz but hid that knowledge from the masses.

Yet we know and have testimony and even affidavits from Zionist youth leaders, for example, who were sent from Budapest by Kasztner's group to warn Jews in smaller towns – including Satmar – about Auschwitz and to tell them that deportation means death. Overwhelmingly, the rabbis and Jewish leaders of these towns would not listen, would not believe. The cognitive dissonance was too much for them.

Braham ignores all that, does not even cite the material, and blames Kasztner and the other leaders.

So you pick a historian with a grudge, a man who cooks the books to prove his point, and ignore the other historians – like Yehuda Bauer, for example – who have a much different view of the situation, and who actually provide sources to back themselves up.

The type of mental illness shown both by Ezra and you is astounding.

[Alisha Betters]

Let me tell you all again!
Those who had $40.000 per person to get on the train, were saved. Those who did not, died in the gas ovens.
I was born in Cluj, Romania, after the war, my father lost his first family in the furnaces of Poland, a wife, parents, and a 4 year old daughter!
Kasztner was a two faced bastard.
How his daughter can live with herself???
At his trial, I have a witness right here, she asked him, what happened to the gold coins and money he took from her father>>>
He claimed he never heard of his father (lost in Aushwitz with her entire family)
She spat in his face!!!!
See that today's posts were not posted which I wrote!!!!!You pigs!!!!

[Shmarya]

See that today's posts were not posted which I wrote!!!!!You pigs!!!!

You left two comments on another post.

Past that, your 'facts' relating to the trial are incorrect. But I suspect you know that.

[Alisha Betters]

One survivor of the train, died yesterday in Queens, NY. The lady who was present at the trial, who was a youngster, who saw her father handle gold coins and money to Kasztner is still alive, thank G-d in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Having worked on behalf of the survivors of the Holocaust, I can give two facts:
The money that the German banks and Swiss banks finally gave, very little if any went to the survivors. The Claims Conference, and WJC, among other organizations took the money, and doled it out to themselves.
It shows that not much has changed since 1944, when as you all can see some Jewish leaders sold out their own, and in the 1990's the same thing happened again.
Those who died in the camps, were violated over and over again!

[Shmarya]

Lets see.

You falsely accused me deleting your comments.

On another post you left two comments a couple minutes apart using two different names.

You cite episodes from the trial that never happened. (The court kept good records, including a complete transcript, and there were dozens of reporters there every day, all the time. And your story isn't there, now is it?)

Because of the style in which your write, it's clear you are Orthodox. (For example, you write "G-d.")

What you know about Kasztner you know from books sold in haredi bookstores, books like Perfidy.

You've clearly not looked at the evidence.

And, from how you've acted here, that isn't very surprising.

[Shmarya]

Let me tell you all again!
Those who had $40.000 per person to get on the train, were saved. Those who did not, died in the gas ovens.

There were about `1700 or so passengers on the Kasztner Train.

About 1400 or so paid NOTHING.

Only a couple hundred rich people paid anything, and what they paid paid for all the others who got on board.

This is a FACT. It is DOCUMENTED.

You are either very ignorant, very sick, or both.

[Alisha Betters]

You are trying to get your 15 min. of fame-
You are knocking Orthodox people?
I'm very traditional, raised in Cluj, Romania until the age of 10 - therefore Communist, and raised in the States after-
college educated- but, not an anti-Semite-
or a self hating Jew like you sound to be.
What glory do you give a female who had no upbringing from Holocaust survivors, who debuts a movie about dead Jews on the Sabbath??????
That is one big offense right there= show the world that you are a proud Jewess.!
You are ignorant and your blog is thank heavens not read by too many- I came across it by accident- what trash-
let me tell you again, $40,000 per head were paid- you are an American wannabee- an ignoramus- did your parents complain of eating meat only once a week during the Shoah?
You want proof? I worked with the lead attorney on the GOld Train, and was honored at the White House on my work with him- what you know, is to try to legalize a man's name who messed up big!!!!
Empty trains went without Jews in it- to cover up for Eichman!!!!!

[Alisha Betters]

Who is this commentator anyway, Mr. Shmrya-
he insults everyone and calls everyone sick who do not agree with him!
Pull the bum out- and give equal speech to everyone- this guy belongs in a Turkish steam bath- (on shabbos) for a good scrub-

[Shmarya]

Look. The information I posted is accurate. More than a dozen historians, Yad Vashem, lots of journalists and many others agree with me.

No one agrees with what you write.

As I noted above, and as is completely proven by facts, including many documents:

There were about 1700 or so passengers on the Kasztner Train.

About 1400 or so paid NOTHING.

Only a couple hundred rich people paid anything, and what they paid paid for all the others who got on board.

This is a FACT. It is DOCUMENTED.

[Alisha Betters]

Show me the documentation in front of CBS News- or pick any TV station and survivors!!!!
Then, we will show how trains went empty-
again, why did not people like my father, a businessman in Cluj, his first family- with College Education, and get on the train???
BECAUSE FAMILIES WOULD NOT DIVIDE-
Mrs. Alice Fischer passed away this week, only she was able to get on the train, not her parents!!!!
Because a select few could afford the $40.000 per head!!!!!!!

[Alisha Betters]

I read about you on both blogs, and the bottom line is that 98% disaagree with you-
not with me.
Also, note the correct spelling : Cluj- not KLUJ
Also, note that the Satmar dynasty was able to save themselves, so did another dynasty starting with letter J.
Good, but, it speaks volumes for those that were not Rabbis - they were sophisticated Klausenberg people, even the Rabbi of Klausenberg lost over 10 children and his first wife- guess, they could not pay the price!!!!
Repeat again, Kasztner was a charlatan, and he is hated by the survivors.
We, children of survivors give more respect, humility to a Oscar Schindler, a non- Jew, who behaved exemplary and NEVER WANTED TO BE CALLED A HERO!!!!!!!!!
Remember, this will not be important in 20 years either!!!!!!

[Shmarya]

You're not thinking clearly.

It is absolute FACT that approximately 1500 passengers rode free or for small amounts of money.

You repeat lies: lies that have long since been proved false, lies that got an innocent man killed, lies that were used by Israel's hard political right to try to gain power, and lies that were used by haredim to cover up their rabbis' failures.

And here's a little tip for you: Oskar Schindler is on record saying Kaszter is the bravest man he ever met.

I'm sorry your family suffered, and I'm sorry they died.

But they were killed by GERMANS, not by Rezso Kasztner. All Kasztner ever did was try to save Jews. And all he ever got in return was the hatred of people like you.

[Alisha Betters]

I invite you and Ezra - the 3 of us to go in front of the cameras and the public on TV and present documentation!
You are not "privy" to more than your opinion, since you do not have the facts, are not born in Cluj- do not go back there regularly like I do on business- and probably are not the child of survivors from Cluj!!!!
Again, for a 15 min of fame, you will say anything- the haredis were saved my friend, the very rich ones, not the sophisticated bussinesmen, store keepers, doctors, tailors!!! Or the "average" CLuj Jews!
And, EMPTY TRAINS WERE GOING WITH THE TRAINS FILLED WITH THESE RICH ONES!!!!!!!

[Shmarya]

You are not "privy" to more than your opinion, since you do not have the facts, are not born in Cluj- do not go back there regularly like I do on business- and probably are not the child of survivors from Cluj!!!!

And you do not have the facts because you adamantly refuse to look at the documents that prove you wrong.

And, EMPTY TRAINS WERE GOING WITH THE TRAINS FILLED WITH THESE RICH ONES!!!!!!!

Only someone truly mentally diseased would write that.

Again, about 1500 train passengers paid very little or nothing to ride to freedom.

The rich Jews on board paid or the poor poor and the orphans.

This is a FACT, completely supported by documents and by eyewitness testimony.

No historians question this.

I hesitate to attack you because you are the child of a survivor.

But I will say this: anyone who writes what your write, and who disregards any and all evidence that proves her wrong, and that hurls insults and vile names at anyone who disagrees with her, is not acting like a mentally well person.

[Alisha Betters]

I gave you the opportunity to come clean and clear in front of CBS, CNN, any TV channel- the fact that the trains went empty- is a fact that not only the very few Jews in Cluj know about it, but, also, there are (unfortunately) as I write this, survivors are less and less, there were eye witnesses in CLUJ BRICK FACTORY!
You are an ignorant, fool and a danger to Jews.
No 2. Kasztner refused to meet with Hanna Senesh - who was not "shot by the Hungarians" but, beaten to death in front of her mother!!!!!!
And this is the last time I will grace your blog, from what I read from the blog, people disagree and take you for a fool.
That is why your blog has writings from only 3 people (me included).

[Shmarya]

1. No historians agree with you.

2. The facts, including actual documents from the War, do not support your rantings at all.

3. Thousands of people read this website every day. That is not my spin – that is verified by several different industry monitoring organizations.

4. Likewise, there are hundreds of people who comment here. Hundreds.

5. Hanna Senesh was killed by a German firing squad. There is no question about this. She was not beaten to death in front of her mother.

6. You clearly need mental health counseling.

[Tony Greenstein]

I am finding difficulty in understanding Michael Ezra's comments re Kasztner's testimony on behalf of Nazi war criminals in view of previous comments of his to me and others.

He writes:
'Reader,

I concur with your point and I also find it astonishing that there are those that defend Kasztner even when it is known that he testified on behalf of a number of Nazi war criminals.

Consider the following:

Kasztner testified for Kurt Becher, Hermann Krumey and Dieter Wisliceny and others. Considering these three:

Becher was Himmler's personal agent and extorted money and other valuables from the Hungarian Jews.

Krumey was Eichmann's partner and accomplice in the murder of millions of Jews in Poland, the USSR and Hungary.

Wisliceny coordinated the Final Solution in Slovakia and Greece and the ghettoization of 450,000 Hungarian Jews in advance of their deportation to Auschwitz.'

How does this square with what he wrote on the Socialist Unity blog and in debates with me?

'10. Whilst it is true that Kasztner gave testimonies or evidence in support of certain Nazi criminals, he also gave evidence against others. Kasztner made other statements leading to the conviction of other Nazi War Criminals. For example Kasztner stated in his report that Eichmann was determined that not a single Jew should survive. For more information on these testimonies see Shoshana Barri (Ishoni), “The Question of Kasztner’s Testimonies on behalf of Nazi War Criminals,” The Journal of Israeli History, Vol 18, nos. 2 and 3 1997 pp. 139-165.
4. Greenstein claims that Kasztner testified “in favour of Dieter Wisliceny.” This is a nonsense. Kasztner testified against Wisliceny in September 1945 and in July 1947 Kastzner appealed for Wisliceny to be transferred from Slovak to American custody for interrogation about Eichmann’s whereabouts. Greenstein also says that Kasztner testified in favour of Krumey. Had Greenstein bothered to read Kastzner’s 1946 report, he would know that Kastzner explained Krumey’s role in the destruction of Hungarian Jewry extensively. In December 1944 Kastzner could have stayed in Switzerland, but instead he risked his own life to travel back to the Reich. There were approximately 15,000 Jews in Vienna who had been sent from Hungary and Krumey was in charge of them. In the final months of the war Krumey did [not – erratum] kill them but, according to Kastzner, acted “in a comparatively humane way” towards them. There is no question that Krumey was a war criminal but the 15,000 Hungarian Jews in the Strasshof labour camp were no doubt relieved not to be murdered. Juttner had intervened with Hitler to stop the death march. Kastzner’s testimony for Becher is well known. It is discussed in detail by Shoshana Barri. [4]
http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=2767#comments
10. Kastner did not testify for "all the war criminals with Eichmann," he testified against Veesenmayer and Kaltenbrunner as well as Eichmann himself.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/AJP0AJI3MY3WZ/ref=cm_pdp_profile_reviews?ie=UTF8&sort%5Fby=MostRecentReview

The number of Strasshoff deportees incidentally was over 18,000 and some figures quote 30,000. Krumey's role is best described by Braham's who notes that 'an indeterminate number were ordered deported by Krumey to Auschwitz as punishment for infractions, including the possession of money, the use of barbers or going to the movies.' At Strasshoff, up to 30,000 (Braham cites 20,000) Jews were 'laid on ice', diverted from being deported to Auschwitz, as a result of severe labour shortages in Vienna and Austria. They worked on farms, estates and in digging anti-tank ditches. 75% survived thanks to the Soviet invasion. As Braham describes it (p. 650) 'The chief of the RHSA [Kaltenbrunner] was besieged by the Austrian entrepreneurs operating war industries and by government officials... with requests to provide them with desperately needed slave labor.' Not that that stopped both Kastner and his sidekick, Andre Biss, claiming credit.
Greenstein is wrong on this point. The Supreme Court overturned the lower court decision on the point of collaboration by 4:1 and on the point of preparing the ground for murder by 5:0. Kasztner did testify on behalf of Becher ‘that is true. He also testified on behalf of Krumey and Juttner. He did not testify on behalf of Wisliceny but did provide a memorandum requesting Wisliceny was transferred from Slovak to American custody. He did not testify on behalf of anyone else but he did testify against other Nazis. It is not known exactly why Kasztner made those testimonies although there are numerous theories ‘but what we do know is what exactly Kasztner said in his testimonies.
On behalf of Becher, Kasztner credited him Becher with allowing the 1,685 Jews on the rescue train to escape, 75 Jews hiding in Bratislava, preventing the deportation of 85,000 Jews in the Budapest ghetto and rescuing some 50,000 survivors at concentration camps ‘notably at Mauthausen and Flossenberg. Kasztner believed that at the end of the war Becher had done all that he could to prevent the killing of innocent civilians including an intervention with Himmler aimed at preventing Slovakian Jews near the city of Serad being concentrated prior to deportation. Kasztner thought it "equitable" that these facts should be taken into consideration by the Allied authorities.
Kasztner argued on behalf of Krumey that he had acted "in a comparatively humane way" to the 15,000 Jews sent to Austria and deserved some credit that the majority of them survived the war. Kastzner also argued that Krumey had rescued 29 Jews in Bratislava and 30,000 Jews in Theresienstadt but undermining orders to destroy them. On behalf of Juttner he argued that Juttner’s and Becher’s interventions with Himmler had stopped the "death march."
On behalf of Becher ‘the most famous of these testimonies ‘Yehuda Bauer comments
"He [Becher] was a convinced if superficial and opportunist Nazi, the stuff so many mass murderers were made of. Becher was a killer probably, a mass murderer probably, a robber and a blackmailer most certainly ‘and a saviour of maybe hundreds of thousands of lives. He saved those lives to benefit himself."
On behalf of Becher, Kasztner credited him Becher with allowing the 1,685 Jews on the rescue train to escape, 75 Jews hiding in Bratislava, preventing the deportation of 85,000 Jews in the Budapest ghetto and rescuing some 50,000 survivors at concentration camps ‘notably at Mauthausen and Flossenberg. Kasztner believed that at the end of the war Becher had done all that he could to prevent the killing of innocent civilians including an intervention with Himmler aimed at preventing Slovakian Jews near the city of Serad being concentrated prior to deportation. Kasztner thought it "equitable" that these facts should be taken into consideration by the Allied authorities.
Kasztner argued on behalf of Krumey that he had acted "in a comparatively humane way" to the 15,000 Jews sent to Austria and deserved some credit that the majority of them survived the war. Kastzner also argued that Krumey had rescued 29 Jews in Bratislava and 30,000 Jews in Theresienstadt but undermining orders to destroy them. On behalf of Juttner he argued that Juttner’s and Becher’s interventions with Himmler had stopped the "death march."
On behalf of Becher ‘the most famous of these testimonies ‘Yehuda Bauer comments
"He [Becher] was a convinced if superficial and opportunist Nazi, the stuff so many mass murderers were made of. Becher was a killer probably, a mass murderer probably, a robber and a blackmailer most certainly ‘and a saviour of maybe hundreds of thousands of lives. He saved those lives to benefit himself."
Harry’s Place 26.1.07.

[Consistency]

Are you the same Tony Greenstein who wrote in a Communist Party newspaper:

"No-one on the left calls for the destruction of Israel."
(The Weekly Worker, 11 December 2008)

Having previously written in that same newspaper:

"Yes, I want the state of Israel to be destroyed."
(The Weekly Worker, 20 July 2006)

???

If so, you're hardly in a position to accuse anyone else of inconsistency.