Trapped by Evil and Deceit: The Story of Hansi and Joel Brand by Daniel Brand (E

Publisher Description

When the Holocaust broke out in Europe, Hansi and Joel Brand were joined by Israel (Rezs) Kasztner to launch an organized effort to save thousands of human lives. Their efforts, which involved playing a dangerous bluffing game against the Nazi regime, helped to end the Auschwitz extermination. Their success put them at odds with the political machine of the young state of Israel. Politicians wanted the public to believe that there was nothing they could do, a sentiment which many still believe to this day. This cover-up led to Israel's first politically-motivated homicide.

Table of Contents

AcknowledgementsPrologue 1. BackgroundHungaryThe Jews in Hungary2. The Brands The Beginning of the Holocaust and the First Rescue OperationJoelHansiThe Wedding, 1934–1935The "Golden Age": The Calm before the StormPart I. Towards Holocaust 3. Early Rescue Operations Evasion of Labor ServiceThe Rescue from the Deportation of "Alien" Jews4. The Refugees The Refugees who Arrived in HungaryThe Hungarian Jews and the RefugeesThe Brands and the RefugeesThe Smuggling Operations (Tiyul)5. The Budapest Relief and Rescue Committee The Members of the Committee6. The Gap between Data and KnowledgeWarning Signs of the Holocaust in HungaryWhat did the Hungarian Jews Know?Part II. Holocaust 7. The Occupation 8. Early Rescue Attempts in Budapest BackgroundThe Front Line The Bratislava Working GroupThe Auschwitz ProtocolsFive Different Ways for RescueThe Jewish Council: JudenratThe Palestinian OfficeThe JPU (Jewish Pioneer Underground)The Rescue Committee9. The Negotiations with Eichmann: The "Blood For Goods" Deal10. The Destruction of the Hungarian JewryThe PreparationsLiquidation of the Periphery JewsThe Fate of Budapest Jewry11. Rescue Activities in Budapest after Joel Left for His MissionContinued Negotiations with EichmannStrasshof or "Jews on Ice""The Train of the Privileged"The Forged Documents and Hansi's ArrestRescuing the Budapest Jews at the End of August 1944Krausz's Rescue AttemptsThe Jewish Pioneer Underground in HungaryAdditional Achievements of the Negotiations with the NazisOttó Komoly and the International Red Cross (IRC)The Budapest Ghetto12. The Paratroopers' AffairThe Paratroopers' MissionThe ParatroopersThe Paratroopers' Activities in HungaryThe Reasons for the Paratroopers' Failure in Hungary 13. Hansi: "The Heart of the Consortium"Part III. Indifference14. IstanbulIndifference and NegligenceWhat Could Have Possibly been Done?15. Pre-State Israel, the Jewish People, and the HolocaustThe Jews over the World: What They Knew and How They ReactedJewish Rescue PolicyPart IV. Deception 16. The Struggle for the Narrative The Jewish Public in Palestine/Israel and Its Post-War LeadershipThe Attitude toward Jewish Rescuers of Jews17. The Kasztner AffairKasztner's ReportKasztner's Mission to NurembergKasztner's Trial 18. Rewriting the History The Early Years: The Holocaust and Its Victims are Not on the Public AgendaJoel's Mission Exposure and Its Implications 19. Deception Techniques Real-Time DocumentsNon-German DocumentsGerman Documents Downplaying the Importance of the Rescue AttemptsEliminating the Brands from the HistoryKasztner's Unborn ChildrenDamaging Joel's Reputation and TrustworthinessWho is Misleading?20. The Brands Affair EpilogueAppendicesAppendix 1: Sharet's ReportAppendix 2: The Jewish Agency Rescue PolicyTimetableBibliography

Review

"In 1944 the Hungarian Jewish activist Joel Brand was sent from Budapest to neutral Turkey to broker a deal on behalf of the Nazis – represented by Eichmann – with the Zionists and the Allies regarding the exchange of thousands of Jews for necessary war materials, the notorious "Blood for Goods"... Daniel Brand, the youngest son of Joel and his wife Hansi, has written a meticulously researched and detailed narrative, based on a huge range of historical documents, attempting to unravel the complexities of the controversial deal, its context, its aftermath and his parents' part in both. … Each part is divided into short clearly written sections, which make this complicated material fairly easy reading. It is a uniquely personal contribution to the accounts of this murky chapter in Holocaust history."— Glenda Abramson, University of Oxford, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 21:4

"The last chapter of the Holocaust—the extermination of half a million Hungarian Jews in 1944—remains shrouded in mystery. How could so many people be lured to their deaths, in such a short time frame, and at this eleventh hour of the war? One of the key controversies concerns Adolf Eichmann's infamous proposal to release up to one million Jews in exchange for strategic goods. In May 1944, the Nazis dispatched the author's father, the rescue worker Joel Brand, to neutral Turkey, to submit this bizarre bid to the Zionists and the Allies. In this important book, Joel's son Daniel rehabilitates the memory of his parents, which has been the object of multiple misinterpretations. In the process, he challenges the idea that Blood-for-Goods was a mere Nazi deception, and the Brands the unwitting dupes who, supposedly, facilitated this endeavor. Instead he argues that the leaders of the free world failed to realize the potential for saving large numbers of victims that was inherent to the proposal."—Paul Sanders, Associate Professor, NEOMA Business School
"Dani Brand's analysis of the situation in Hungary in the early 1940s is much deeper than most. His is the first I have read to do justice to the frame of mind and confused attitudes of the Jewish population, highlighting their impossible situation at this desperate time. He helps to dispel the image suggested by some, that Jews were 'like sheep to the slaughter.' He pays long overdue tribute to the truly heroic activities of the Jewish Refugees Committee. He tells how the JRC leadership (including his own parents) and many young Zionists, without weapons, knowingly risked their lives in the cause of saving others from the death camps. Some, like the JRC leader Otto Komoly, were murdered by the Arrow Cross fascists."—Tomi Komoly, Hungarian Holocaust survivor

Review Quote

"In 1944 the Hungarian Jewish activist Joel Brand was sent from Budapest to neutral Turkey to broker a deal on behalf of the Nazis - represented by Eichmann - with the Zionists and the Allies regarding the exchange of thousands of Jews for necessary war materials, the notorious "Blood for Goods"... Daniel Brand, the youngest son of Joel and his wife Hansi, has written a meticulously researched and detailed narrative, based on a huge range of historical documents, attempting to unravel the complexities of the controversial deal, its context, its aftermath and his parents' part in both. ... Each part is divided into short clearly written sections, which make this complicated material fairly easy reading. It is a uniquely personal contribution to the accounts of this murky chapter in Holocaust history." -- Glenda Abramson, University of Oxford, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 21:4 "The last chapter of the Holocaust--the extermination of half a million Hungarian Jews in 1944--remains shrouded in mystery. How could so many people be lured to their deaths, in such a short time frame, and at this eleventh hour of the war? One of the key controversies concerns Adolf Eichmann's infamous proposal to release up to one million Jews in exchange for strategic goods. In May 1944, the Nazis dispatched the author's father, the rescue worker Joel Brand, to neutral Turkey, to submit this bizarre bid to the Zionists and the Allies. In this important book, Joel's son Daniel rehabilitates the memory of his parents, which has been the object of multiple misinterpretations. In the process, he challenges the idea that Blood-for-Goods was a mere Nazi deception, and the Brands the unwitting dupes who, supposedly, facilitated this endeavor. Instead he argues that the leaders of the free world failed to realize the potential for saving large numbers of victims that was inherent to the proposal." --Paul Sanders, Associate Professor, NEOMA Business School "Dani Brand's analysis of the situation in Hungary in the early 1940s is much deeper than most. His is the first I have read to do justice to the frame of mind and confused attitudes of the Jewish population, highlighting their impossible situation at this desperate time. He helps to dispel the image suggested by some, that Jews were 'like sheep to the slaughter.' He pays long overdue tribute to the truly heroic activities of the Jewish Refugees Committee. He tells how the JRC leadership (including his own parents) and many young Zionists, without weapons, knowingly risked their lives in the cause of saving others from the death camps. Some, like the JRC leader Otto Komoly, were murdered by the Arrow Cross fascists." --Tomi Komoly, Hungarian Holocaust survivor

Description for Sales People

A historical account of true events that reads like a political thriller Will fascinate everyone who is interested in the unwelcomed but maybe inevitable relationship between history and politics, especially during and after humanity's darkest hour--the Holocaust Is based on decade-long research into one of the most bizarre and interesting episodes of the Holocaust--Joel Brand's mission to negotiate the "Blood for Goods" deal Shows that indifference and negligence on the part of the Jewish leadership in Palestine and their European representatives led to the loss of 100,000 lives that could have been saved Restores the reputation of heroic Jewish rescuers who were ostracized after the Holocaust Exposes ugly internal Jewish politics during and immediately after the Holocaust that led to politically- and racially-motivated selection regarding whose lives to save Highlights the consequences of unchecked political power and censorship even in a democratic society Questions many assumptions and "historical facts" since, as Winston Churchill said, "history is written by the victors" Shatters myths commonly thought about the Holocaust that "we didn't know" and "we couldn't do anything about it" Uniquely proves and explains why the Jewish Agency shockingly sent people to testify in favor of Nazi criminals during the Nuremberg trials Chronicles the chain of events, starting with Joel Brand's mission to Istanbul, that led to saving the Budapest Jewry from extermination and halting the mass extermination in Auschwitz Demonstrates the direct relationship between Hansi and Joel Brand's activities, and actions taken by world leaders such as FDR Exposes deliberate distortions and fictitious information concocted by state-sponsored historians to conceal the failures of those in power

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