Shlomo Katz

I am changed after reading this book. Hecht's skill as a writer is on full display here, you forget you're reading a book and instead are transformed into a witness for this inhumane tragedy. All I can say is that it is acutely painful, at times beautiful ( the portraits of inhumanity are balanced by the few acts of true bravery and heroism) and all in all very necessary reading. To conclude, from this book, all I have left to add is that I love Israel. The land, the people. But the Israeli show more government, then and now, has no right, moral or otherwise to call itself any thing other than a pack of soulless animals. History may be at times malleable; but they are not justified, excused or exonerated. May they pay the ultimate price for their depravity and viciousness in dealing with their 'brothers' their fellow Jews. Please read this book. show less

NO OF PAGES: 281 SUB CAT I: Israeli Politics SUB CAT II: SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: A seemingly insignificant refugee from Hungary accuses an important member of David Ben-Gurion's Mapai party of collaborating with the Nazis during the murder of Hungarian Jewry. The Israeli government files suit for slander. Represented by a brilliant lawyer, the refugee turns the tables on the government as Ben-Gurion's colleague, Rudolf Kastner, is trapped in lie after lie. The judge finds that the employee show more of the Israeli government did indeed collaborate with the Nazis and acquits the Hungarian refugee of the charge of slander. The government appeals. Before the appeals court can act, Kastner is murdered outside his home. The government arrests three right-wing youths and charges them with murder. Many believe that the Israeli Mossad had Kastner murdered to prevent his talking about contacts between the Nazis and Jewish Labor Zionists during the Holocaust. Everyone loves a thrilling courtroom drama about murder. This one is not fiction, but a true life drama. The Israeli public was transfixed for nine months as testimony unfolded in this trenchant story of the last year of the Holocaust in which over a half-million Hungarian Jews were transported to their deaths before the eyes of the free world.NOTES: Donated by Patricia Irwin. SUBTITLE: show less