THE HOLOCAUST IS OVER WE MUST RISE FROM ITS ASHES

Rudolf Israel Kastner was born in 1906 in Klozh, Transylvania, and was an active,political Zionist all his life. In 1943 he was appointed chairman of the Aid and RescueCommittee of the Hungarian Jewish community. When the German army invadedHungary, the country’s Jews were in jeopardy. The committee members contactedEichmann, who had arrived in the country to organize the annihilation of its Jews, andKurt Becher, head of the economic division of the SS. Eichmann and his staffproposed to transfer the Hungarian Jews outside the Nazi occupied territories,sparing their lives, in return for ten thousand trucks and other goods, in a programlater called “Goods for Blood.” As a minor consequence of these negotiations, a trainwith 1,684 Jews, chosen by Kastner, left the country for a safe haven. Although thepassengers represented diverse Jews, including several Hassidic leaders (albeitwithout their Hassidim), the rumor was that many of the passengers were membersof the Zionist movement and of the Kastner family, as well as the community’swealthy members, who had financed the deal. Kastner naively believed that this wasthe first train of many to come. It was the only train to leave Hungary.At the same time, the murder of Hungary’s Jews was happening at full speed. In afew months, half a million Jews were shipped to Auschwitz in trains. The rescue train,it was later claimed, was an alibi for senior Nazis, headed by Becher, who wereexpecting defeat, trials, and executions. In his defense, Kastner once claimed that hesaved a hundred Hungarian Jews, many more than others, who did not try to saveany.Kastner immigrated to Israel in 1947 and was Mapai’s candidate to the secondKnesset. In 1953, a leaflet was circulated in Jerusalem that accused Kastner of theworst. The author was one Malkiel Grunwald, an older, bereaved Jerusalemite, whowas also a grumpy religious extremist. It was his habit to circulate leaflets thatpresented extreme opinions, dirty laundry, and juicy gossip. In this leaflet he accusedKastner of collaborating with the Nazis in the annihilation of Hungary’s Jews and theransacking of their property. “My friends and comrades,” wrote Grunwald, “thestench of a carcass is bothering my nostrils. This will be the best of the best offunerals. Dr. Rudolf Kastner must be eliminated.”Kastner’s political employers forced him to file a complaint with the police againstGrunwald, who was charged with libel. But something went wrong, as the defendantwas elevated, and the politician was debased. During the trial, Kastner became thede facto defendant, and Grunwald the accuser of much wider charges.