Israeli Security Agency The Kastner Affair 1 www.shabak.gov.il The Kastner Affair The trial – the accuser became accused Israel (Rudolf) Kastner, a leader of the Jewish community in Hungary during the Holocaust served in the beginning of the 50s as the spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry after immigrating to Israel. As such the libel case was dismissed. Adolf Eichman who was in charge of the elimination of the Jews of Hungary made an offer to an associate of Kasterner Joel Brand; war material in return for saving Hungarian Jewry. The Attorney-General of the Government of Israel v. Malchiel Gruenwald, commonly known as the Kastner trial, was a libel case in Jerusalem, Israel. Although Kastner won the trial he was awarded one shekel, which was a message that he really lost. The government decided to sue Greenwald for libeling a public servant. The court ruling said that Kastner had “sold his soul to the devil” by selecting some Jews … The Confession of Adolph Eichmann. Warburg, Gustav. All five judges dismissed the appeal related to the charge that Kastner had helped Kurt Becher escape punishment after the war by writing him a letter of recommendation. Though he did not get elected, there was a good chance he would be successful in the third elections, to be held in … While some of the facts in the case remain disputed to this day, the basic narrative is simple. (2000), Eichmann's … He wrote that Kasterner “grew fat on Hitler’s looting and murder”. Malchiel Gruenwald, commonly known as the Kastner trial, was a libel case in Jerusalem, Israel. Kastner died 10 days later — the first political assassination in the State of Israel. The Kastner affair was the first Holocaust trial that succeeded in making itself relevant to the Israeli public at large. Where, it would serve as a catalyst for deep reflection and regret (especially among the survivors). Once he affirmed his identity, they shot him. His role in negotiating with the SS in order to save Jewish lives made headlines in 1953, when he was accused in a self-published pamphlet produced by Malchiel Gruenwald of collaborating with the Nazis, enabling the mass murder of Hungarian Jew… © 1996-2020 Historycentral. [3], Most of the decision was overturned by the Supreme Court of Israel in January 1958. In it, Kastner who was a government official was accused of collaborating with the Nazis. Kranzler, David (2000). The events leading up to the trial in 1953 involved alleged crimes of collaboration committed by Rudolph Israel Kastner during World War II in Hungary. [1], "Historical Adjudication: Courts of Law, Commissions of Inquiry, and 'Historical Truth'", "The Holocaust on Trial: The Impact of the Kasztner and Eichmann Trials on Israeli Society", "Once Reviled as Nazi Collaborator, Now a Savior", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kastner_trial&oldid=1003447460, Pages using refbegin with normalfont parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 29 January 2021, at 01:11. They alleged that he had known about the gas chambers since at least the end of April 1944 – when he had received a copy of the Vrba-Wetzler report – but had neglected to inform the wider community that they were not being deported from Hungary to be "resettled," as the Nazis had said. Kastner answered that he was afraid of endangering the negotiations that he still hoped would save the bulk of Hungary’s Jews. Rudolf Kastner and the fate of Hungary's Jews in 1944 features prominently in Hannah Arendt's account of the trial of the Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann in Israel in 1960 in her book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report in the Banality of Evil (Penguin, London, England, 1994). Israel Kastner gave letters of exoneration to four Nazi officers in 1946, during the Nuremberg trials, journalist Dan Margalit said yesterday at a public debate marking the 50th anniversary of the Kastner trial. "The Strange Case of Joel Brand," Jewish Observer and Middle East Review, 1954, vol. [2] In failing to alert the wider community to the danger, they alleged that he had helped the SS avoid the spread of panic among the Jewish community, which would have slowed down the transports. He resigned from his post, his wife sank … He was assassinated in 1957 after an Israeli court accused him of having collaborated with the Nazis. Biographical History In 1954, the Attorney General of Israel, Haim Cohen, filed a lawsuit against Malkiel Gruenwald, the Jerusalem journalist of Hungarian origin, on the charge of publishing a pamphlet which claimed that Dr. Rudolf Kastner, who was serving then in a public position, had collaborated with the German occupation forces in Hungary. II, p. 908-910); auch zitiert als: Dr. Rudolf Kastner who was a government employee had been the Chairman of the Jewish Rescue Committee of Hungary during the war. The trial which was a libel case ended with the judge accusing Kastner with selling his soul to the devil. On January 1, 1954, a trial opened in Jerusalem. Of the 1,685 388 were from Kastner's home town of Cluj. T/37(237) Submitted during the course of the Adolf Eichmann trial and marked T/1113 (BO6-900, Vol. Kastner, who made a deal with Adolph Eichmann in 1944 to allow between 1,600 and 1,700 Hungarian Jews to leave for Switzerland in exchange for money, gold and diamonds, was convicted in an Israeli courtroom in 1955 for collaboration with the Nazis. Kastner was shot near his home in Tel Aviv on the night between March 3 and 4, 1957. The Nizkor Project: Dedicated to the millions of Holocaust victims who suffered and died Simon Wiesenthal Centre. The debate was held as part of the 14th World Congress for Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. Czech film about Rabbi Weissmandel: Among Blind Fools. In the trial resulting from the Israeli government indictment of the Holocaust survivor author of the 1953 pamphlet, Dr. Kastner admitted that Eichmann told him he wished to avoid a … The highly acrimonious trial was described in a famous book, Perfidy, by American playwright and Jewish activist, Ben Hecht. Kastner tried to escape, but was critically wounded. The court ruled that Kastner, by keeping Hungarian Jewry ignorant of the Nazi plans for their extermination in … Kastner had come to Israel in 1946 and become very active in public life. They were Jewish and explained that they murdered Kastner following the libel trial … In it, Kastner who was a government official was accused of collaborating with the Nazis. [1] One of the key issues was whether Kastner, who in Hungary had helped to found the Budapest Aid and Rescue Committee, had in effect collaborated with Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) and Kurt Becher (1909–1995), two SS officers, in his efforts to secure safe passage from Budapest to Switzerland in July 1944 of 1,684 Jews, on what became known as the Kastner train. Shamash: The Jewish Internet Consortium: Holocaust Home Page. Eckstein returned to the jeep and quickly fled. Kastner Trial Term Paper on Kastner Trial Assignment For millions of Jews, the Holocaust and its lingering effects would have a dramatic impact upon Israeli society. A few hours later the Israeli Security Service caught the murderers. Hearings were held from 1 January to October 1954 in the District Court of Jerusalem before Judge Benjamin Halevi (1910–1996), who published his decision on 22 June 1955. [1], The Israeli government sued on Kastner's behalf, calling him as one of 59 witnesses. The Israeli government of the day fell and Kasztner and his family became virtual prisoners in their home. • Report of Jewish Aid and Rescue Committee in Budapest 1942–1945. Rezső Kasztner (1906 – 15 March 1957), also known as Rudolf Israel Kastner, was a Hungarian-Israeli journalist and lawyer who became known for having helped Jews escape from occupied Europe during the Holocaust. Ironically, the trial … He was an unsuccessful candidate in the first and second elections, and became the spokesman for the Ministry of Trade and Industry in 1952. In January 1958 the Supreme Court reversed the lower court decision. American history and world history can be found at historycental- History's home on the web. His motive, they said, was to safeguard the release of a smaller number, which included his family and friends. When he confirmed this, Eckstein took out a pistol and shot him. In 1953 he was accused by Malchiel Gruenwald of collaboration with the Nazis during the Second World War: The allegations included concealing information on the extermination … [1], Gruenwald and Tamir accused Kastner of having failed to warn the Hungarian Jewish community that they were to be loaded onto trains and taken to the gas chambers in Auschwitz, in occupied Poland. The trial of Gruenwald for libel would become known as the “Kasztner Trial.” Gruenwald's defense attorney, Shmuel Tamir, succeeded in turning what was supposed to be a libel trial against Gruenwald into an indictment of Kasztner and the ruling … The allegations were made in a self-published newsletter, Letter to Friends in the Mizrachi, in August 1952. Kastner was also on the Mapai candidate list for the first and second Knessets (Israeli parliament). Though banned in Israel it quickly became an underground bestseller, especially among anti-Zionist Jews. 3. Israel (Rudolf) Kastner (1906–1957), who was of Jewish-Hungarian origin, was a clerk at the Ministry of Trade and Industry and a candidate on behalf of Mapai in the elections for the Second Knesset. The Israeli Supreme Court eventually overturned the verdict, but before it did Kastner was assassinated. The story of Rezső Kasztner, who helped 1,684 Hungarian Jews escape the Nazis via Switzerland. The Israeli Supreme Court eventually overturned the verdict, but before it did Kastner was assassinated. He was later denounced as a collaborator by author Malchiel Greenwald, whom the Israeli government sued for libel on Kasztner's behalf. On March 15, 1957, he was ambushed outside his Tel Aviv apartment and killed by three assassins. Because of his position as a government official, Kasztner was represented at trial by Haim Cohen, Israel's attorney general. Hearings were held from 1 January to October 1954 in the District Court of Jerusalem before Judge Benjamin Halevi (1910–1996), who published his decision on 22 June 1955. Whatever aspect of history you wish learn about, you will find it at Historycentral.com. Cheshin wrote: "On the basis of the extensive and diverse material which was compiled in the course of the hearing, it is easy to describe Kastner as blacker than black and place the mark of Cain on his forehead, but it is also possible to describe him as purer than the driven snow and regard him as 'the righteous of our generation.' In it, he determined that Kastner had done nothing to warn the Jews of Hungary. The ensuing trial lasted over two years, destroyed Kasztner's reputation, and indirectly led to his assassination. The first bullet was a blank, the second hit the car door and the third bullet hit Kastner in the upper torso. The transport played a major role in the Kastner trial in Israel in 1954, in which the government of Israel sued Malchiel Gruenwald, a political pamphleteer, for libel after he self-published a pamphlet charging Kastner, by then an Israeli government spokesman, with collaboration. In 1953 in one of his newsletters he accused Kastner of collaborating with the Nazis. If Kastner had not been assassinated in 1958 for being an alleged Nazi collaborator, he would … Brand was allowed to travel to Turkey and then interned by the British in Syria, and Eichman’s proposal was turned down by the Allies. by Dr. Rezsoe Kasztner. Eichman agreed to prove his sincerity to agree to allow 200 hundred families to leave the country unharmed. Malkiel Greenwald who had immigrated from Poland in 1938 published a newsletter that specialized in “uncovering” corruption in the ruling Mapai Party. It was in this trial, which took place in 1954-1955, that an Israeli judge first had to address the evils … On June 22, 1955, Judge Benyamin Halevi issued a 300-page ruling. Revolt of Warsaw's … The three who were caught were supporters of Lechi, the outlawed far-right militia. The assassin (Zeev Ackshtein), the driver (Dan Shemer), and the head of the organization (Yosef Menks) were tried and convicted of murder. "[1] Kastner was assassinated outside his home in Tel Aviv in March 1957 as a result of the decision and the subsequent publicity. THE KASTNER TRIAL - shown at the Jewish Film Festival in 1997. But in the meantime, Kastner negotiated with Eichman for more time. At midnight on March 4, 1957, Israel Kastner, returning to his home in Tel Aviv, was confronted by three strangers. Thereafter, Kastner moved to Israel and became active in Mapai (the labor party); by 1952 he served as spokesman for the ministry of trade and industry. The trial was cast as historic, one in which the … It was a libel case. He wrote that Kastner had sold his soul to the devil. The Kastner trial revetted Israel. The five judges, Chief Justice Yitzhak Olshan, Shimon Agranat, Moshe Silberg, Shneur Zalman Cheshin, and David Goitein, upheld the appeal on the charge that Kastner was guilty of the indirect murder of Hungarian Jews. The judge ruled in Gruenwald's favour, accusing Kastner of having "sold his soul to the devil. The Man Who Stopped the Trains to Auschwitz. Explore our complete time lines of major events in American history as well as World History. The verdict reverberated throughout Israel and resulted in the government of Sharett falling. Research our special sections on diverse subjects ranging from presidential elections to naval history. In the summer of 1952, Malchiel … A man who exposed himself to mortal danger in order to save others. almost forgotten trial that took place in Jerusalem several years before the Eichmann trial—the case that came to be known as the Kastner affair. When Kastner returned home from work, Ecsktein approached him and asked if he was Israel Kastner. [1], The defendant, Malchiel Gruenwald (1881–1958), a hotelier who lost 52 relatives in the Auschwitz concentration camp, had accused Rudolf Kastner (1906–1957), a Hungarian lawyer and journalist who became a civil servant in Israel in 1947, of collaborating with the Nazis in Hungary during the Holocaust. All Rights Reserved. It was in this trial, which took place in 1954-1955, that an Israeli judge first had to address the evils o … The Attorney-General of the Government of Israel v. Malchiel Gruenwald, commonly known as the Kastner trial, was a libel case in Jerusalem, Israel. Kastner moved to Israel after the war, and became active in the Mapai party. The trail shook the foundations of Israeli … The decision to entrust the leadership of Eichmann's trial to a Supreme Court justice, rather than to a district court judge (as the law required), was itself the result of a prior legal trauma in Israel: the trial and murder of Rudolf Kastner (Rezső Kasztner, Israel Kastner).
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