The Kasztner Transports

Rudolf (Israel) Kasztner, a Zionist leader in Hungary during World War II, headed the Relief and Rescue Committee, a small Jewish group that negotiated with Nazi officials to rescue Hungarian Jews in exchange for money, goods and military equipment.
In June 1944, the "Kasztner Train," with 1,684 Jews on board, departed Budapest for the safety of neutral Switzerland.
Kasztner's negotiations also saved 20,000 Hungarian Jews by diverting them to an Austrian labor camp, Strasshof, instead of a planned transfer to extermination camps.
Kasztner himself didn't board his famous train to freedom, instead staying behind and negotiating the further release of Jews, risking his own life.

• Rudolf Kasztner Wikipedia
  
• Kastner Train Wikipedia
  

Kasztner Train Passengers

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KASZTNER TRANSPORT SURVIVORS

1. R' Joel Teitelbaum, Satmar Rebbe
2. Egon Mayer, Sociologist, Kasztner Memorial Site Creator
3. Béla Zsolt , Author
4. Leopold Szondi, Psychiatrist
5. Dezső Ernster, Opera Singer
6. István Irsai, Artist
7. Peter Munk, Canadian Philanthropist
8. Ladislaus Lob, Professor of Literature
9. Adam Heller, Geni , YouTube video Professor of Chemical Engineering
10. Anna Halberstam-Rubin, radio interview, Professor of Russian Jewish history
11. Rabbi Mendel Halberstam
12. Emanuel (Manny) Mandel, Psychotherapist
13. Peska Friedman, Sister of the Munkascer rebbe, Baruch Rabinowicz
14. Shaul Ladany
15. George Rozsa
16. Stefan Bergner, Buenos Aires
17. Bela Gondos
18. Anna Ilona Havas
19. Margalit Manci Koves
20. Rosie Steinfeld

Geni Profile List

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“Jews on Ice” at Strasshof Labor Camp

Eichmann referred to those sent to Austria as hostages, “frozen Jews,” or “Jews on ice” who would be held there temporarily, their fate to be decided by the progress of the negotiations.

Kasztner and his colleagues insisted that they be sent to Strasshof, Austria, and from there via France and Spain to Lisbon, with the ultimate destination being Eretz Israel.

Eichmann did not state this destination explicitly for fear of the reaction of the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el-Husayni, with whom he had already reached an agreement; instead he spoke of sending them to Western Europe.

The 18,000 Jews sent to this exceptional destination—Strasshof, near Vienna—were taken there in six trains on June 25–28, 1944, just a few days before Kasztner’s rescue train set out, while other trains were carrying the Jews of the provinces to Auschwitz day and night.

Not all the Jews selected arrived in Austria. Some refused to be included in these transports because they thought they were going to death camps.

In at least one case trains were accidentally switched: A train carrying 3,000 Jews from Győr and Komárom, including the rabbi of Győr, Rabbi Emil Roth, was mistakenly sent to Auschwitz and Eichmann refused to allow it to change direction. It was replaced by a train from Debrecen that had been slated to go to Auschwitz.

Notes: 
16 Schiller, "Mif’al ha-Hatsala", 54; "Kasztner, Din ve-Heshbon", 99; Braham and Katzburg,"Toledot ha-Shoah", 278. Braham is convinced that this was an “error by a staff sergeant.”
Read Full Article

ARTICLES:

• Once Reviled as Nazi Collaborator, Now a Savior NY Times
• The Train
• Kasztner's Train
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Reszo Kasztner and the train from Budapest

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Links

• The Kasztner Memorial
  
• Kasztner Facebook Page
  
• Kasztner Survivor Memorabilia USHMM Washington, DC
  
• KASZTNER, REZSŐ RUDOLF Jewish Virtual Library
  
• Jews on Ice
  

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MEDIA:

• Kasztner Train One Survivor's Story - YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spTLDlTx7rA 
• Book Discussion on Kasztner's Train - C-Span: http://www.cspanvideo.org/program/204588-1 
• The Controversial Story of Kasztner’s Train - Jewish TV: http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/2213024/jewish/My-Ex... 

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•  http://www.vosizneias.com/54516/2010/05/02/cleavland-oh-jewish-woma... 
• http://www.interfaithfamily.com/arts_and_entertainment/popular_cult... 

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BOOKS:

• Rezso Kasztner - The Daring Rescue of Hungarian Jews: A Survivor's Account , by Ladislaus Löb    

Re other survivor trains:
(page 94 - "Six trains carrying a total of 18,000 Jews, were taken to Strasshof between June 25 -28, and those who were strong enough sent to work in various industrial plants nearby).
(page 95 - On one occasion a train due to take 3,000 Jews from the ghettos of Gyor and Komarom to Strasshof went to Auschwitz, and another train, scheduled to deliver a similar transport from Debrecen to auschwitz, went to Strasshof instead).  

•   Kasztner's Train: The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust, by Anna Porter
• The Man Who Was Murdered Twice
• The Life, Trial and Death of Israel Kasztner, by Yechiam Weitz. Translator: Chaya Naor

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DATA BASES:

• Kasztner Survivor Registry
• http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/pressroom/pressreleases/pr_details.a...
•  http://resources.ushmm.org/hsv/source_view.php?SourceId=33356
•  http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/holocaust/0172_Kasznter_Jews.html  "Jews For Sale": The Rudolph Kasztner Transports.  Jewish Gen

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MOVIE:

• Killing Kasztner"" Movie
• KILLING KASZTNER: The Jew Who Dealt With Nazis Official Movie Trailer
• Video Clip from Killing Kasztner

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Bibliography

• • Barri, Shoshana (1997). "The Question of Kastner's Testimonies on behalf of Nazi War Criminals," The Journal of Israeli History, vol 18, issue 2–3, pp. 139–165.
• • Bilsky, Leora (2001). "Judging Evil in the Trial of Kastner", Law and History Review, Vol 19, No. 1, Spring 2001.
• • Encyclopaedia Judaica (1972). "Kasztner, Rezso Rudolf," Jerusalem.
• • Ilani, Ofri (2008). 50 years on, Holocaust survivor defends Rudolph Kastner, Haaretz, December 12, 2008.
• • Kranzler, David (2000). The Man Who Stopped the Trains to Auschwitz. Syracuse University Press.
• • LeBor, A. (2000), Eichmann's List: A Pact With the Devil, The Independent, August 23, 2000.
• • Löb, Ladislaus ( website: ladislauslob.co.uk) (2008). Dealing with Satan. Rezsõ Kasztner's Daring Rescue Mission. Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-07792-7
• • Orr, Akiva (1994). "The Kastner Case, Jerusalem, 1955" in Israel: Politics, Myths and Identity Crisis, Pluto Press, pp. 81–116. ISBN 0-7453-0767-1
• • Porter, Anna (2007). Kasztner's Train. Douglas & MacIntyre.
• • Weitz, Yechiam (1995). Ha-Ish she-Nirtsah Paamayim ("The Man who Was Murdered Twice"). Keter.
• • Dean, Gideon. "The Kastner Affair," The Reconstructionist, January 27, 1956, pp. 9–15 (the first of two reports on the first trial).
• • Dean, Gideon. "The Kastner Affair II," The Reconstructionist, February 10, 1956, pp. 13–19.
• • Kasztner, Rezso. "Report of Jewish Aid and Rescue Committee in Budapest," 1942–1945. T/37(237) Submitted during the course of the Adolf Eichmann trial and marked T/1113 (BO6-900, Vol. II, p. 908–910); also cited as:
• • Kastner, Israel. "Report of the Rescue Committee in Budapest," 1942–1945 (submitted to the Zionist Congress), 108 [Hebrew]. Cited by Judge Halevi, Cr.C. (Jm.) 124/53 Attorney General v. Gruenvald, 44 P.M. (1965) 3, at 115 [translated by Leora Bilsky].
• • Kastner, Rezso. Der Bericht des judischen Rettungskomitees aus Budapest, 1942–1945 (mimeo ms); later published as Der Kasztner-Bericht ueber Eichmanns Menschenhandel in Ungarn. Kindler, 1946, 1961.
• • "No Reason to Repent: Eichmann's Doctored Version of the Kastner Affair," Jewish Observer and Middle East Review, December 9, 1960.
• • Sloan, Jacob. "From the Trial of Rudolf Kastner," The Reconstructionist, December 26, 1958, pp. 29–31.