| Revision as of 12:18, 7 May 2006 editSlimVirgin (talk | contribs)172,064 editsm →Background: clarifying← Previous edit | Revision as of 12:30, 7 May 2006 edit undoSlimVirgin (talk | contribs)172,064 edits expandingNext edit → | ||
| Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
| ==Background== | ==Background== | ||
| ] in the mid-1960s. It was rescuing Hansi's sister that led |
] in the mid-1960s. It was rescuing Hansi's sister from deportation that led to Brand becoming involved in "buying" Jewish refugees. ]] | ||
| Brand was born in ], Transylvania, now Romania, moving in 1910 with his family to ] in Germany, where he was raised and educated. He became a communist and worked for the ] as a sailor and odd-job man, spending time in the Philippines, Japan, China, and South America before returning to Germany, where he became a middle-ranking communist functionary. His position led to his arrest after the ] in 1933, when the Nazis began rounding up socialists and communists. <ref name=Zahn>>, a screenplay by Leo Zahn</ref> When he was released in 1934, he left Germany and settled in ], Hungary, where he got a job with the Budapest Telephone Company and became a ], joining the ] (Israel Labour Party) youth movement. <ref name=Bauer152>Bauer, Yehuda. ''Jews for Sale: Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945'', Yale University Press, 1994, p. 152</ref> | Brand was born in ], Transylvania, now Romania, moving in 1910 with his family to ] in Germany, where he was raised and educated. He became a communist and worked for the ] as a sailor and odd-job man, spending time in the Philippines, Japan, China, and South America before returning to Germany, where he became a middle-ranking communist functionary. His position led to his arrest after the ] in 1933, when the Nazis began rounding up socialists and communists. <ref name=Zahn>>, a screenplay by Leo Zahn</ref> When he was released in 1934, he left Germany and settled in ], Hungary, where he got a job with the Budapest Telephone Company and became a ], joining the ] (Israel Labour Party) youth movement. <ref name=Bauer152>Bauer, Yehuda. ''Jews for Sale: Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945'', Yale University Press, 1994, p. 152</ref> | ||
| In 1935, he married another member of the Zionist movement in Budapest, Hansi Hartmann, who owned a factory that produced gloves, socks, and sweaters. <ref name=Hansi>, The Trial of Adolf Eichmann, Session 58, part 2 of 5, The Nizkor Project</ref> When Hansi's sister was deported in 1941, Brand paid Josezf Krem, a Hungarian espionage agent, to get her back, and from that point on, Brand became involved in smuggling Jewish refugees from Poland and Slovakia to the relative safety of Hungary. <ref>Bauer, Yehuda. ''Jews for Sale: Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945'', Yale University Press, 1994, p. 152. Sources differ on whether it was Brand's wife's sister or brother who was deported. ''Online Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies'' published in its Volume 18, No. 2 issue that it was Brand's wife's brother, but historian Yehuda Bauer writes that it was his wife's sister.</ref> | In 1935, he married another member of the Zionist movement in Budapest, Hansi Hartmann, who owned a factory that produced gloves, socks, and sweaters. <ref name=Hansi>, The Trial of Adolf Eichmann, Session 58, part 2 of 5, The Nizkor Project</ref> When Hansi's sister was deported in 1941, Brand paid Josezf Krem, a Hungarian espionage agent, to get her back, and from that point on, Brand became involved in smuggling Jewish refugees from Poland and Slovakia to the relative safety of Hungary. <ref>Bauer, Yehuda. ''Jews for Sale: Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945'', Yale University Press, 1994, p. 152. Sources differ on whether it was Brand's wife's sister or brother who was deported. ''Online Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies'' published in its Volume 18, No. 2 issue that it was Brand's wife's brother, but historian Yehuda Bauer writes that it was his wife's sister.</ref> | ||
| As the situation of Jews in Europe worsened, Brand teamed up with ], a Zionist lawyer and journalist from ] and Samuel Springmann, a center-left Zionist who owned a jewellery store and who began to function as the treasurer of their fledgling rescue committee. In 1941 and 1943, Kastner tried to interest the Hungarian Social Democrats in joining forces with the committee to undertake large-scale rescues of Jews but the non-Jews were allegedly not willing to endanger themselves for the sake of Jews. <ref name=Bauer152/> | |||
| ==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
Revision as of 12:30, 7 May 2006
Joel Brand (1907 – 1964) was a Hungarian Jew who played a prominent role, during the Nazi occupation of Hungary, in an attempt by the Jewish Rescue and Relief Committee to save Jews by making a deal with Adolf Eichmann, who was in charge of the deportation of Jews from Hungary to the German death camp at Auschwitz. During a meeting with Brand in April 1944, Eichmann offered to release up to one million Hungarian Jews in exchange for trucks, soap, tea, coffee, and sugar from the Allies. The deal, which failed, became known as the "blood for trucks" agreement.
Background
Brand was born in Năsăud, Transylvania, now Romania, moving in 1910 with his family to Erfurt in Germany, where he was raised and educated. He became a communist and worked for the Comintern as a sailor and odd-job man, spending time in the Philippines, Japan, China, and South America before returning to Germany, where he became a middle-ranking communist functionary. His position led to his arrest after the Reichstag fire in 1933, when the Nazis began rounding up socialists and communists. When he was released in 1934, he left Germany and settled in Budapest, Hungary, where he got a job with the Budapest Telephone Company and became a Zionist, joining the Mapai (Israel Labour Party) youth movement.
In 1935, he married another member of the Zionist movement in Budapest, Hansi Hartmann, who owned a factory that produced gloves, socks, and sweaters. When Hansi's sister was deported in 1941, Brand paid Josezf Krem, a Hungarian espionage agent, to get her back, and from that point on, Brand became involved in smuggling Jewish refugees from Poland and Slovakia to the relative safety of Hungary.
As the situation of Jews in Europe worsened, Brand teamed up with Rudolf Kastner, a Zionist lawyer and journalist from Cluj and Samuel Springmann, a center-left Zionist who owned a jewellery store and who began to function as the treasurer of their fledgling rescue committee. In 1941 and 1943, Kastner tried to interest the Hungarian Social Democrats in joining forces with the committee to undertake large-scale rescues of Jews but the non-Jews were allegedly not willing to endanger themselves for the sake of Jews.
Notes
- "Yehuda Bauer: Teaching about the Holocaust (Part 2)", Online Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies, Volume 18, No. 2, Winter 2005
- >"Devil's Poker: A True Story", a screenplay by Leo Zahn
- ^ Bauer, Yehuda. Jews for Sale: Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945, Yale University Press, 1994, p. 152
- Hansi Brand's testimony", The Trial of Adolf Eichmann, Session 58, part 2 of 5, The Nizkor Project
- Bauer, Yehuda. Jews for Sale: Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945, Yale University Press, 1994, p. 152. Sources differ on whether it was Brand's wife's sister or brother who was deported. Online Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies published in its Volume 18, No. 2 issue that it was Brand's wife's brother, but historian Yehuda Bauer writes that it was his wife's sister.
References
- "Yehuda Bauer: Teaching about the Holocaust (Part 2)", Online Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies, Volume 18, No. 2, Winter 2005, retrieved May 7, 2006
- "Devil's Poker: A True Story", a screenplay by Leo Zahn, retrieved May 7, 2006
- Hansi Brand's testimony", The Trial of Adolf Eichmann, Session 58, part 2 of 5, The Nizkor Project, retrieved May 7, 2006
- Bauer, Yehuda. Jews for Sale: Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945, Yale University Press, 1994. ISBN 0300068522
Further reading
- Hecht, Ben. Perfidy, Milah Press, first published in 1961. ISBN 0964688638
  | This Hungarian biographical article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |
 | This article related to Jewish history is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |