What was it like growing up as the granddaughter of one of Israel's most controversial figures?
Rudolph Kasztner was a Hungarian Zionist leader.
During the Holocaust, he negotiated with the Nazis, often directly with Adolph Eichmann, and won the freedom of thousands of Jews.
After the war, Kasztner was accused of collaboration with the Nazis. A libel case based on this accusation went on appeal all the way to Israel's High Court, which found in Kasztner's favor.
But Kasztner was unable to celebrate that ruling – he was already dead, murdered by right wing extremists.
The documentary film Killing Kasztner tells the story of that assassination and brings together the lead assassin with Kasztner's family, including granddaughter Merav Michaeli, an Israeli television personality and journalist.
Merav spoke with me yesterday.
Please listen:
Merav Michaeli Podcast FailedMessiah.com 10-13-09
Killing Kasztner opens next week in NYC. You might even see me there: