Auction 73 - Jewish and Israeli History, Culture and Art

"Kastner's Report" – Report on the Activity of the Aid and Rescue Committee of Budapest during the Holocaust

Opening: $400
Sold for: $500
Including buyer's premium
Der Bericht des Jüdischen Rettungskomitees aus Budapest 1942-1945, Vorgelegt von Dr. Rezsö Kasztner [The report of the Jewish Rescue Committee of Budapest 1942-1945, Submitted by Dr. Rezsö Kasztner] [Switzerland or Budapest?]: Vaadat Ezra Vö-Hazalah Bö-Budapest, [1946]. German. during World War II, submitted by Rezsö (Israel) Kastner to the first Zionist congress to take place after the Holocaust, convened in Basel in 1946
Report (mimeographed typescript) on the activity of the Jewish Aid and Rescue Committee in Budapest. Classified "Confidential" on the cover.
The report, compiled by Kastner shortly after World War II, contains an extensive description of the Holocaust in Hungary, a review of the activity of the Jewish Aid and Rescue Committee and a documentation of the efforts to organize the departure of the "Rescue Train" from Hungary to Switzerland. The report includes several copies of affidavits and letters of recommendation in favor of Kastner, describing his activity for the Jews of Hungary and the financial help he provided to Jews incarcerated in the Theresienstadt Ghetto.
This report was instrumental in Kastner's acquittal after his assassination in Tel-Aviv in March 1957, following a court decision in 1955 according to which "Kastner sold his soul to the devil" and collaborated with the Nazis. The report was translated to Hebrew and published in the early 1980s by the Society for the Commemoration of Israel Kastner.
[1], XIII, 1-15, 15a, 16-191, [6] leaves (printed on one side only), approx. 30 cm. Good condition. Some stains to margins. New, elegant binding, with the original front cover. The original back cover is missing.
The Dreyfus Affair, Antisemitism, The Holocaust and She'erit HaPletah
The Dreyfus Affair, Antisemitism, The Holocaust and She'erit HaPletah