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Robert St. John's New Novel Deals with
'Barter' for Rescue of Hungarian
Jews,
•
Its Aftermath in Famous 'trial in Israel
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SM., MO.(
Boris Smolar's
'Between You
... and Me
Andor Horvath, the man "who lately that people who were
played God" in the St. John not Zionists at all and who
(Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.
story, not only played the role cared little about building a
Copyright, 1962)
of a one-man organization that national homeland off in the
undertook to negotiate with the Middle East were seeking
Personality
Profile
Nazis, but he continually con- certificate s, as insurance
Isidore Sobeloff, executive vice-president of the Jewish
sented to raise funds for the policies . "
Welfare Federation in Detroit, who has been honored on the
"barter" scheme, sent an emis-
Then, when Andor made occasion of 25 years of service to the Detroit Jewish community,
sary to Istanbul to deal with his deal for the rescue of belongs to the national scene as a figure in the field of Jewish
the Jewish Agency, kept con- 1,679 Jews, who were to be community work . . . Many professional Jewish social workers
tacting Jewish relief officials kept in Bergen-Belsen and throughout the country look to him for advice and guidance .. .
in Switzerland to ask them for then sent on to Switzerland
Among lay leaders throughout the country his opinions on
the required funds and even to await entry in Palestine,
community affairs have a decisive influence . . . Affectionately
brought into the picture repre- that documents were forged called "Soby" by all who know him, his words carry weight
sentatives of the United States as Palestine entry certificates at all major national Jewish gatherings where communal affairs
when he found that the only to assure the rescue of that are discussed . . . what makes him so widely respected? . . •
funds that could be secured number—in exchange for a The answer is three-fold: his warm personality, his profound
were those that could be gotten million and a half—in dol- interest in all phases of Jewish communal life, and his analytical
from this country. lars.
mind . . . He approaches every subject and problem with a
In the course of his narrative,
That's how the game went on. clarity and wisdom that is convincing . . . During the 25 years of
St. John shows how the Hun- The entire book is filled with his direction of Jewish communal activities in Detroit, he brought
garian anti-Semitic Arrow Cross details of Horvath's negotia- about the raising of $125,000,000 for all kinds of Jewish purposes.
movement served the Nazis' tons with the Nazis, of their . . . But it is not so much his ability to inspire people to give
purpose by collaborating in the abuse, their continued round- the maximum for Jewish causes that brought him the reputation
roundup of Jews for extermma- ing up of Jews for deportations he now enjoys . .. it is more his deep insight into Jewish life
ROBERT ST. JOHN
tion, by looting Jewish homes and eventual extermination in and his understanding of what the American Jewish community
visits in Israel, his residence and molesting Jews on all Auschwitz.
needs in the fields of social work and education . . . Sobeloff is
While the many minutiae and interested not merely in philanthropy, but also in developing
in Europe, the scenes he has occasions.
Admiral Horthy plays a detailed conversations at times Jewish culture and education and in preserving the Jewish
covered as a writer and as a
radio commentator, have given role in the Hungarian trag- become boring, because they heritage . . . He is one of the founders of National Foundation
him an understanding of the edy. What the reader is not lose the powerful impact of the for Jewish Culture which is beginning to play an important role
era during which the Nazis had told is that Horthy himself tragedy that was then enacted, on the American Jewish cultural scene . . . He is a member of
murdered six million Jews. He was an anti-Semite at the St. John's story throws so much the boards of directors of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and
covered the Eichmann trial and outset and was himself re- light on the entire era that his of the Jewish Welfare Board . . . Under his direction the number
he has gathered material at sponsible for many Jewish novel emerges as a very great of Hebrew schools has increased in Detroit . . . He considers any
deaths, and only much later contribution to the literature Jewish cause worthy of encouragement, if it only helps to
first hand.
did he turn against the Nazis. studying the holocaust and the strengthen Jewish identity . . . He is one of the pillars of the
It is as a result of these -
Possessing a deep understand- Hitler horrors.
research activities that he
Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds and no nuance
There are interesting exposes in Jewish communal life is therefore considered by him as
has been able to get the data ! ing of Nazism and of events
he needed for his latest work, that preceded the establish- of collaborators and one of unimportant . .. This explains why he is so much at home on
the novel "The Man Who ment of Israel, St. John has an the characters in the book, any subject concerning the development of the American Jewish
Played God," to be published indifference of Hun g a r ian meeting one of the leaders in community . . . Inasmuch as American Jewry is also the backbone
on Jan. 4 by Doubleday. It , Jewry to the Jewish national the resistance movement in of aid to Israel and needy Jewish communities abroad, he is also
is a novel with the years liberation movement. Describ- Auschwitz, thus describes a actively interested in all major and minor problems affecting
1944-1956 as the setting and ■ ing at the outset the demand Kapo:
Jewish life overseas . . . He has been a member of numerous study
"I am a kapo," he an- missions sent by the United Jewish Appeal to Europe and Israel.
the extermination of 650,000 that finally arose, under the
nounced.
When
he
realized
of Hungary's pre-war popula- Nazis, for certificates to be able
to study conditions there ... In his own community, he succeeded
tion of • 800,000 as the basis to escape to Palestine, and that this meant nothing to in attracting the best elements of Detroit Jewry to active leader-
them,
he
explained,
"Kapo
is
for his theme. It is a story Andor Horvath's Zionist acti-
ship and in putting Detroit on the map for other communities
about a man who, sin g 1 e-. vities, St. John states in his short for Kamp Polizei. I am in the country to follow.
a
Slovak
Jew.
All
kapos
are
handedly, carried on "barter" novel:
"The Jewish Agency had a , Jews. We are prisoners, but
1963 Outlook
negotiations with Nazis for
The year 1962 is closing with successful results in fund-
the the rescue of some of the representative of its o w n in I we have been appointed over-
Budapest who theoretically de- seers. I have been here a
raising campaigns of the Jewish federations and welfare funds.
Jews of Hungary.
'Accepted as the Literary cided how to distribute the year. Almost everyone who . . . It is estimated that Jewish communities raised seven per
But until enters this camp is killed, but
cent more in 1962 than in the preceding year, despite the stock
Guild selection for next month, priceless certificates.
people who I wanted to live. I wanted market drop of May 28 . . . However, there was a difference
St. John's novel already is at- recently most of the .
really
wanted
to
go
to
Palestine
very
much
to
live.
I
felt
that
;ween the communities which were active in cash collection
tracting the widest attention.
must survive." He looked l--
drives and those which thought "this is not the time to ask for
It will undoubtedly create the were Zionists, and Andor was I
widest debates in Israel as well the dominant leader of the away from them. "For this I money" . . . The former, moving ahead with vigorous efforts,
as among the Jewries through- Zionist movement in Budapest. agreed to be an overseer." found payments of pledges forthcoming in adequate amounts,
out the world and certainly in Moving to Palestine had had St. John's is a story of the while this was not the case with the latter . ... The outlook for
Hungary because the theme is , little appeal for Hungarian bartering of lives, and the 1963 fund-raising campaigns in the communities is considered
reminiscent of t h e notorious Jews. Even after the advent. of horrors yet to be told in their good since many Jewish community leaders see signposts indi-
Kastner case which resulted inlHitler, even during the early totality include the attempts at cating that the national economy will be on the way up in the
the assassination in Israel of , years of the war, most of the escape by way of baptism, the new year . . . One of the problems which emerged when the
the man who was accused of 1800,000 Hungarian Jews had a Vatican's intercession for bap- results of the 1962 campaigns were evaluated was the per capita
collaboration with the Nazis. positive disinterest in emigra- tized Jews and its later protests range in giving . In some communities the per capita gift
As in the Kastner case, the tion. They formed the most against the persecution of all was well over $50, while in others it was less than $20.
novel ends in the murder of , integration-minded Jewish corn- Jews, and the cruelties per-
the man "who played God," who I munity in Europe. While Yid- petrated by non-Germans who Contemporary History
Manv• books have been published on the. Hitler era since
had dealings with Himmler's , dish was the language of Polish collaborated with the Nazis.
be
The entire Horvath tale is the fall of the Nazi regime . . . But the Jewish reader
representatives in Budapest, I and Russian Jews, the Hun-
garian
Jews
prided
themselves
reviewed
during
the
trial
in
especially
interested
in
the
story
of
Adolf
Hitler
as
presented
who succeeded in rescuing 1,6791
JeWs among who were some on their ignorance of Yiddish. I Israel, to which St. John de- by 1VIorris D. Waldman, fOrmer executive head of the Detroit
of his relatives. Because he was !In public and in private they voted the second portion of Jewish Welfare Federation and of the American Jewish Com-
accused of favoring his rela- I spoke Magyar. In most parts the book. The first is the tale mittee, in his new book "Sieg Heil" published by Oceana
tives, because he did not come of Europe. Jewish communities of the attempt to rescue Hun- Publishing House . . . Waldman directed the .work of the Amer-
to the aid of Israeli parachutists held themselves aloof from the garian Jews, which was limited ican Jewish Committee during the crucial Nazi years and stood
who were dropped in Hungary life about them. They had their to Horvath's success only in in the front lines in the fight against Nazism even before Hitler
to conduct resistance activities, !own Jewish culture: their own behalf of the 1,679. Then came to power . . . His dispassionate analysis of the Nazi era
he was blamed for Hungarian! literature, music, art, dances; charges began to be leveled brings out a picture not only of Hitler the maniac, but also of a
Jewry's extermination in the their own opera and theater; against him in Israel and when people who suddenly began to consider themselves as a super-race
mass murder efforts for which their own writers, actors, play- he sued for libel it was he and destined to rule the world . . . "Sieg Heil" screamed Hitler as
Eichmann later 'stood trial, ! wrights, singers. Here in Hun-_ not the accuser who really was he invoked - the right forged by power and might . . . "Sieg
charged with responsibility for ! gary for generations Jews had tried. Andor's ac c u s e r was Heil" echoed the German masses, as they renounced the morality
the wholesale killings. worked diligently to identify found not guilty on three of of free men . . . Waldman attempts objectively and factually to
While St. John's story can themselves with the national four counts, in spite of the analyze what kind of a man Hitler was and why he became so
not be accepted in its totality life. The number of Neologs, or strong defense that was heard
as history, it has so many his- reform Jews, was proportion- in Horvath's defense. Horvath powerful in Germany.
torical factors that it is cer- ately larger here than any- vowed that this was the be-
sentatives, the U.S. spokesman,
tain to serve as background where else, and a considerable ginning of his battle for justice. ner drama in Israel, by those the Nazis and Horvath, in the
portion
had
given
up
the
prat-
Then
came
the
assassination
by
who
seek
to
bring
the
case
to
material in the discussion of
"barter" scheme for the rescue
the holocaust in relation to tive of their religion. The home one of his enemies who hated light again as a means of expos- of those who were sent for -
Hung a r y. The eminent of the Hungarian Jew looked and disapproved of his tactics. ing collaborationists, may place temporary detention in Bergen-
bearded novelist and author completely Magyar, even to the The Kastner case is re-enacted added significance upon "The Belsen.
explored every aspect of the piles of pillows - and puffs on here.
Horvath, whose first wife died
St. John's residence in Buda- Man Who Played God" and may,
era with which he. dealt in the beds, the colored tile stoves,
in Budapest during his strivings
the
predominance
of
red
in
pest
during
the
first
year
of
indeed,
keep
St.
John's
book
on
his novel and his narrative is
to rescue Hungarian Jews, had
both an expose of Nazism as interior-decorating schemes. It the war enabled him to gather the best seller list for a long fallen in love with one of the
well as an evaluation of Jew- was the knowledge that they authentic data in his descrip- time.
The Nazis, as in the East- women he helped rescue in the
ish efforts to counteract them. had become so thoroughly in- tion of sites, people and life
ner case, were b i d d i n g for only group he succeeded in get-
tegrated
gave
Hungarian
Jews
in
the
Hungarian
capital
city.
Significant roles are played
St. John painted Horvath in a trucks. That was rejected in ting out of Hungary. His love
in this novel by the resistance their sense of security from
persecution
by
the
Germans.
sympathetic
light, as a dedicated Instanbul, where Horvath's as- for Jessica is one of the
forces as well as by the
romantic episodes in this novel.
masses of Jews who yielded And so far they had been right. man who devoted himself whole- sociate was negotiating with In • the main it is fictionalized
Many
anti-Semitic
laws
had
been
heartedly
to
the
task
of
rescuing
the
Jewish
Agency,
and
by
rep-
to the persecutors, believing,
history. It is dramatic and soul-
as so many others did, when passed and the fascist Arrow his fellow men. But he does not resentatives of the A 11 i e d stirring, due to stir more de-
Cross
party
had
a
program
of
emerge
as
a
likable
character.
forces,
especially
by
the
Ameri-
they were told that they were
He re- can spokesman, in Switzerland, bate than has been occasioned
merely being shipped from putting Jews in their place. He still is the schemer.
But
most
Hungarian
Jews
took
mains
the
fellow
who
collabo-
although financial allotments by few novels in this genera-
their homes to labor camps
were made at the meeting in tion.
this
for
window
dressing
and
rated
with
Nazis.
for service for Germany, that
—P. S.
Attempts
at
reviving
the
Kast-
Switzerland
of Jewish repre-
their lives would be spared. were unafraid . . . It was only
Robert St. John has written
14 books. Seven of them are
about Israel and. Israelis and his
other works reflect his interest
in and knowledge of world con-
ditions, with special emphasis
on a number of them about
southeastern Europe. Included
in the latter category is his first
hand information about Hun-
gary and other parts of Europe.
In the course of his numerous
\/
I
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