Dealing with Satan: Rezso Kasztner's Daring Rescue of Hungarian Jews - Hardcover

Lob, Ladislaus

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0224077929 ISBN 13: 9780224077927

Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd, 2008

Synopsis

Two months after his eleventh birthday, on 9 July 1944, the gates of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp closed behind Ladislaus Lob. Five months later, with the Second World War still raging, he crossed the border into Switzerland, cold and hungry, but alive and safe. He was not alone, but part of a group of some 1,670 Jewish men, women and children from Hungary, who had been rescued from the Nazis as a result of a deal made by a man called Rezso Kasztner - himself a Hungarian Jew - with Adolf Eichmann, the chief architect of the Holocaust. Twelve years and a miscarriage of justice later Kasztner was murdered by an extremist Jewish gang in Israel.To this day he remains a highly controversial figure, regarded by some as a traitor and by many others as a hero. "Dealing with Satan" tells the story of the man who saved hundreds - indeed probably thousands - from the Holocaust. It is also the story of a child who lived to grow up after the Holocaust thanks to that man. The book is the first comprehensive account of a highly dramatic and controversial episode of the Holocaust and its implications for Jewish/Israeli politics today. Combining objective research with autobiography, "Dealing with Satan" traces Kasztner's negotiations with the SS and describes in detail the lives of author and his fellow inmates at Bergen-Belsen. It is an examination of one individual's unique achievement and a consideration of the profound moral issues raised by his dealings with some of the most evil men ever known.

About this title

Review:

`describes in harrowing detail what the refugees experienced ... convincingly refutes allegations that Kasztner saved only the rich and powerful' -- Times Literary Supplement, William D. Rubinstein

`well written and well researched... gripping' -- Jewish Renaissance

'...exemplary...the enormity of human loss in occupied Hungary is recorded with a detached calm and appropriate empathy.'
-- Daily Telegraph

'the most authentic piece written about our group'
-- Dr John Merey, fellow Holocaust survivor

His authoritative account scrupulously intertwines his personal record with the historical events in two separate and concurrent narratives. Each is fascinating and disturbing in a different way.
-- Areté, Winter 2007

`(A) graphic and elegantly written book'
-- Julian Fleming, THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST, IRELAND

`a remarkable book' -- Matthew Reisz

About the Author:

Ladislaus Lob was born in Transylvania. He is Emeritus Professor of German at the University of Sussex.

About this edition

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0224077929
• ISBN 13: 9780224077927
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352