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son of Joel and his wife Hansi, has written a meticulously researched and detailed narrative, based on a huge range of historical documents, attempting to unravel the complexities of the controversial deal, its context, its aftermath and his parents part in both.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 Holocaustthe extermination of half a million Hungarian Jews in 1944remains 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 Eichmanns infamous proposal to release up to one million Jews in exchange for strategic goods. In May 1944, the Nazis dispatched the authors father, the rescue worker Joel Brand, to neutral Turkey, to submit this bizarre bid to the Zionists and the Allies. In this important book, Joels 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 Brands 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
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