The Envoy: The Epic Rescue of the Last Jews of Europe in the Desperate Closing Months of World War II
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23 Susanne Berger, “Stuck in Neutral,” Arlington, Virginia, 2005, p. 7.
24 War Refugee Board File, Box 111, Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Library, Hyde Park, New York.
25 Elenore Lester, Wallenberg: The Man in the Iron Web, p. 93.
26 Alan Levy, Nazi Hunter, p.184. See also Wallenberg’s daybook on display in the Stockholm Military Museum.
27 Tuvia Friedmann, The Hunter, p. 164.
28 Eichmann had good reason to be worried. Manus Diamant, a member of a Jewish resistance group, claimed that his organization “wanted to kill Eichmann at the railway station in Debrecen. I had disguised myself,” added Diamant, “as a porter and was carrying a suitcase full of explosives. I watched Eichmann walking up and down the platform, supervising the transports. Things couldn’t move fast enough for him . . . Our HQ was against [blowing him up] because they anticipated reprisals, as there had been when Heydrich was assassinated. Our people believed that such an act would only accelerate the deportations.” Source: Guido Knopp, Hitler’s Hitmen, pp. 32-33.
29 Anna Porter, Kasztner’s Train, p. 120.
30 Ibid.
31 Eichmann’s colleague, SS intelligence officer Wilhelm Hottl, then operating in Budapest, had run an extensive network of agents for some time in Hungary. He and other intelligence sources would have been able to provide extensive background information on this well-connected and troublesome scion of the most powerful family in Sweden, a still neutral nation.
32 Alan Levy, Nazi Hunter, pp. 184-185.
33 As Marcus later would put it: “I used to say that the definition of being neutral—often called bloody neutral—is that you are bawled out by everybody on all sides. We fulfilled that very well. We were bawled out by everyone. I know that the different camps always thought that we were doing something more favorable to the other camp, but that was not the policy.” Euromoney magazine, October 1980.
34 Ibid.
35 For further details, see Eric Sjoquist, Affaren Raoul Wallenberg, Bonniers, Stockholm, 1974.
36 Alan Levy, Nazi Hunter, pp. 184-185.
37 Ibid.
38 Veesenmayer to German Foreign Office, December 20, 1944, T/1244.
39 Guido Knopp, Hitler’s Hitmen, p. 36.
40 Jeno Levai, Raoul Wallenberg, p. 173. See also Pal Szalai’s report in Jeno Levai, pp. 170-175.
41 Ibid. Perhaps Wallenberg, the “Jew dog,” needed to be put in his place. Certainly, Wallenberg’s activities in Budapest eventually placed his life in danger. Pal Szalai, an Arrow Cross official, would later allege that he warned Wallenberg that an SS intelligence official called Gottstein was working with others to “make Wallenberg disappear, but as a Swedish diplomat was involved, this action had to be prepared very carefully.”
42 Vera Goodkin, interview with the author.
43 Later, Vera would discover that Kasser was a member of an Austro-Hungarian aristocratic family: “A very bright man who didn’t just sit back and lean on the wealth and prestige of his family. He was a very successful and wealthy exporter-importer, and he, with his volunteer function in the Swedish Red Cross, became friendly with Wallenberg.” Source: http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/?en/wallenberg/testimonie/interviews/vera-goodkin.
44 Vera Goodkin, interview with the author.
45 Vera Goodkin, In Sunshine and Shadow, p. 81.
46 Ibid.
47 Vera Goodkin, interview with the author.
48 Vera Goodkin, In Sunshine and Shadow, p. 83.
49 Ibid.
50 Source: http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/?en/wallenberg/testimonie/interviews/vera-goodkin.
51 Vera Goodkin, interview with the author.
52 Alice Breuer, interview with the author.
53 Erwin Koranyi, interview with the author.
54 Alice Breuer, interview with the author.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid.
57 Erwin Koranyi, interview with the author.
58 Ibid.
59 Erwin K. Koranyi, Dreams and Tears, p. 58.
60 Erwin Koranyi, interview with the author.
61 Erwin K. Koranyi, Dreams and Tears, p. 58.
62 Saturday, August 5, 1944, Wallenberg’s appointment’s diary, RA, Raoul Wallenberg Arkiv, Signum, 1, Vol. 9, University of Uppsala, Sweden.
63 Erwin Koranyi, interview with the author.
64 Monday, August 7, 1944, Wallenberg’s appointment’s diary, RA, Raoul Wallenberg Arkiv, Signum, 1, Vol. 9, University of Uppsala, Sweden.
65 Alice Breuer, interview with the author.
66 Alan Levy, Nazi Hunter, pp. 176-177.
67 Erwin Koranyi, interview with the author.
68 Alice Breuer, interview with the author. More than sixty years later, Alice still marvels at her good fortune. “Can you imagine how confused I was?” she says. “I didn’t know anything about him. I had no idea about Sweden.”
69 Erwin Koranyi, interview with the author.
70 Ibid.
71 John Bierman, Righteous Gentile, pp. 68-69.
72 Harvey Rosenfeld, Angel of Rescue, New York, 1982, p. 45.
73 Horthy recalled: “In August, Budapest was to be cleaned up. One hundred seventy thousand Jews were registered in the capital and another one hundred ten thousand were in hiding with their Hungarian friends. The Secretaries of State, Baky and Endre, had planned a surprise action to arrest and deport the Budapest Jews. As soon as news of this reached my ears, I ordered the armored division, which was stationed near Esztergom, to be transferred to Budapest, and I instructed the chief of the Budapest gendarmerie to assist in preventing the forceful removal of the Jews . . . I duly informed the government of the Reich that I would do my utmost to prevent the removal of Jews from Budapest. As the Germans were still striving to keep up the pretence of Hungarian sovereignty, they decided to forgo taking further measures.” Nicholas Horthy, Memoirs, Robert Speller and Sons, New York, 1957, p. 220.
74 Guido Knopp, Hitler’s Hitmen, p. 37.
75 Ibid.
76 Uki Goni, The Real Odessa, Granta, London, 2003, pp. 293-294.
77 Ibid.
78 Ibid.
79 R. Wallenberg to K. Lauer, September 29, 1944, RA, Raoul Wallenberg Arkiv, Signum 1, Vol. 6.
80 John Bierman, Righteous Gentile, p. 70.
81 Ibid.
CHAPTER NINE. OPERATION PANZERFAUST
1 Otto Skorzeny, Skorzeny’s Secret Missions, Dutton, 1950, p. 193.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid., p. 196.
4 Ibid., pp. 193-205.
5 Alice Breuer, interview with the author.
6 Source: http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/montgo/montgo20.htm.
7 Agnes Adachi, Child of the Winds, Adams Press, Chicago, 1989, p. 10.
8 Erwin Koranyi, interview with the author.
9 Miklas Horthy, Memoirs, p. 293.
10 Erwin K. Koranyi, Dreams and Tears, p. 72.
11 See Randolph L. Braham, The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary, vol. 2, revised and enlarged edition, Columbia University Press, New York, 1994.
12 Erwin Koranyi, interview with the author.
13 Christian Ungvary, The Siege of Budapest, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2005, p. 289.
14 Erwin Koranyi, interview with the author. “He hid us despite the fact that he knew that if they caught us, he and his wife and children would be killed. I tremendously respected that man. He was so much of an exception.”
15 Erwin K. Koranyi, Dreams and Tears, p. 86.
16 Ibid., p. 73.
17 Alice Breuer, interview with the author.
18 Erwin Koranyi, interview with the author.
19 Ibid. Eventually, the Arrow Cross would raid the orphanage and place Pipez and others in the ghetto, where he would survive the war.
20 Erwin K. Koranyi, Dreams and Tears, p. 76.
21 Erwin Koranyi, interview with the author.
22 Miklas Horthy, Memoirs, pp. 253-55.
23 Veensenmayer was released in 1951.
24 R
andolph Braham, editor, The Nazis’ Last Victims, p. 37.
25 Frederick E. Werbell and Thurston Clarke, Lost Hero, pp. 64-65.
26 Ibid.
27 Jeno Levai, Raoul Wallenberg, p. 103. In a report to the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm, Wallenberg described how on the “first night of the putsch . . . between a hundred and two hundred people are believed to have been killed.” The Arrow Cross coup had had a “catastrophic effect” on his rescue organization. “The whole of the personnel as well as the motor car disappeared. During the whole of the first day, the undersigned had to ride around the bandit-infested streets on a lady’s bicycle trying to gather together the threads.” Source: John Bierman, Righteous Gentile, p. 74.
CHAPTER TEN. THE ARROW CROSS
1 Vera Goodkin, interview with the author. “The Arrow Cross were for the most part drunken bums,” recalled Vera Herman, who was then under Wallenberg’s protection. “They were undisciplined. The Germans had some understanding of international law. They needed the Swedes and respected them. After all, who is more Aryan than the Scandinavians?”
2 Lars Berg, The Book That Disappeared, Vantage Press, New York, 1990, p. 34. Berg added: “None of us left his house any longer without a gun in his pocket. A diplomatic passport might be a good protection in theory but an automatic speaks in a quicker and more convincing way.” Ibid., p. 35.
3 Frederick E. Werbell and Thurston Clarke, Lost Hero, pp. 68-70. They had first met in an empty apartment on the sixth floor of a publishing company owned by one of Wallenberg’s Section C staff. It had been clear after only a few minutes of conversation that they had the same ideals and came from similar backgrounds. Wallenberg knew that the Austrian-born baroness now regretted her marriage to the amoral and penniless Baron Kemeny, who had squandered a large dowry provided by her two sisters, who were nuns. She wanted to help Wallenberg but she did not want her husband to be placed in danger. “You must believe me,” Wallenberg reportedly told her, “this Hungarian government is doomed. The Allies have already promised to hold war crimes trials. Your husband and the other Arrow Cross leaders will be executed.” Source: Ibid.
4 Raoul Wallenberg, Letters and Dispatches, Arcade Publishing. New York, 1995, p. 276.
5 Marianne Lowy, interview with the author.
6 Alice Breuer, interview with the author.
7 Erwin K. Koranyi, Dreams and Tears, p. 77.
8 Erwin Koranyi, interview with the author.
9 Christian Ungvary, The Siege of Budapest, p. 8.
CHAPTER ELEVEN. THE ROAD TO HEGYESHALOM
1 Lars Berg, The Book That Disappeared, p. 48.
2 Jochen von Lang, Eichmann Interrogated, p. 251.
3 Bronia Klibanski, “The Archives of the Swiss Consul General Charles Lutz,” Yad Vashem Studies, XV, Jerusalem 1983, pp. 357-65.
4 Elenore Lester, Wallenberg: The Man in the Iron Web, pp. 110-111.
5 Ibid.
6 Tschuy, Dangerous Diplomacy, p. 197. The experience was harrowing to others who, like him, had to enter as a diplomat. His colleague Charles Lutz, who had worked closely with him, and accompanied him on several rescue missions, recalled how soul-searing these hours in gathering places could be: “Hundreds of Schutzbrief holders had already been brought to the brickyards . . . I shall never forget their fear-ridden faces. Again and again the police had to intervene, because the people almost tore off my clothes as they pleaded with me. This was the last upsurge of a will to live, before resignation set in which usually ended in death. For us it was mental torture to have to sort out these documents. On such occasions we saw human beings being hit with dog whips. They fell to the ground with bleeding faces, and we were ourselves openly threatened with weapons, if we tried to intervene.” Source: Ibid.
7 John Bierman, Righteous Gentile, pp. 80-81.
8 Alan Levy, Nazi Hunter, p. 188.
9 Juettner also later recalled: “In November 1944, I made an official tour of inspection of the Waffen-SS Divisions fighting in the Hungarian area. In preparation for this tour, I had ordered Obersturmbannfuhrer [Kurt] Becher to meet me in Vienna . . . On the evening of my arrival, Becher told me that on his journey from Budapest to Vienna he had met columns of Jews marching to the Reich frontier. The march had made a strong impression on him, since the terrible exhaustion of these people was apparent at first sight. At first I would not believe his description, since these things appeared to me almost impossible. The next morning, I drove to Budapest accompanied by Becher and my adjutant. About halfway to Budapest or a little later, we met the first columns. Further columns followed at intervals between 25 and 30 kilometers. As far as I can remember, they consisted mainly of women. Unless my memory fails me, all ages up to 60 were represented . . . The first columns, which had been on the march already for several days, made a truly terrifying impression and confirmed Becher’s statement of the day before.” Source: Randolph Braham, Politics of Genocide, pp. 841-842.
10 Kurt Becher also claimed to have done this.
11 Jochen von Lang, Eichmann Interrogated, Da Capo Press, New York, 1999, pp. 253-254.
12 Swedish White Papers, 1957, testimony of Erhard Hille. The Germans had seized the Langfelder family’s profitable machine factory when they had occupied Budapest that March.
13 Jeno Levai, Raoul Wallenberg, pp.133-136.
14 Frederick E. Werbell and Thurston Clarke, Lost Hero, p. 93.
15 Ibid., p. 94.
16 Ibid.
17 Per Anger, With Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest, p. 59.
18 Jeno Levai, Raoul Wallenberg, pp. 136-138.
19 Per Anger, With Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest, p. 59.
20 Alan Levy, Nazi Hunter, p. 190.
21 Jeno Levai, Raoul Wallenberg, pp. 133-136.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 Per Anger, With Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest, p. 59.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid.
28 So-called Sassen tapes.
29 Swedish White Papers, 1957.
30 Ibid. Again Veesenmayer cabled Berlin: “The chief executive in the deployment of Jewish labor for the lower Danube region, SS Oberturmbannfuhrer Hoess, has declared that he can only use able-bodied men, preferably under the age of forty.”
31 Vera Goodkin, interview with the author.
32 Source: http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/?en/wallenberg/testimonie/interviews/vera-goodkin.
33 Ibid.
34 Vera Goodkin, interview with the author.
35 Vera Goodkin, In Sunshine and Shadow, p. 83.
36 Ibid.
37 Vera Goodkin, interview with the author.
38 Ibid.
CHAPTER TWELVE. DINNER WITH EICHMANN
1 Source: http://www.HolocaustResearchProject.org.
2 Two historians have disputed Berg’s recollection of the alleged meeting. A. Lajos, Hjalten och Offren: Raoul Wallenberg och judarna in Budapest (Vaxjo: Svenska Emigratinstitutes skrifserie, no. 15, 2003), p. 150. Also M. Ember, Wallenberg Budapesten (Varoshaza, Budapest, 2000) pp. 71-77. See also Paul Levine, Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest: Myth, History and Holocaust, pp. 276-280 and p. 288.
3 Raoul Wallenberg, Letters and Dispatches, pp. 274-275.
4 John Bierman, Righteous Gentile, p. 98.
5 Berg’s account has been dismissed by some scholars and questioned in depth by scholar Paul Levine in his recent study: Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest: Myth, History and Holocaust, pp. 276-280.
6 Lars Berg, The Book That Disappeared, Vantage Press, New York, 1990, p. 15.
7 John Bierman, Righteous Gentile, p. 98.
8 Frederick E. Werbell and Thurston Clarke, Lost Hero, p. 89.
9 Lars Berg, The Book That Disappeared, p. 15.
10 Ibid., p. 16. Eichmann and his aide then left. “Perhaps Raoul did not win very much by his direct attack,” Berg recalled, “but it could sometimes be a great pleasure for a Swede to speak his mind to an SS officer. And I am sure that Eichmann left the house very much impressed by Raoul’s f
earless and strong personality.” Source: Ibid.
11 Janos Beer, interview with the author.
12 Thomas Veres, oral history, U.S. National Holocaust Museum collections.
13 Thomas Veres, written account.
14 Thomas Veres, written account, courtesy U.S. Raoul Wallenberg Association.
15 Janos Beer, written account of his activities. Given to the author by Janos Beer, February 10, 2010.
16 Frederick E. Werbell and Thurston Clarke, Lost Hero, p. 105.
17 Janos Beer, interview with the author.
18 Kati Marton, Wallenberg: Missing Hero, p. 119.
19 Janos Beer, interview with the author at MIT, February 10, 2010.
20 Ibid.
21 Rudolph Philipp, Raoul Wallenberg, Diplomat, Kampe, Samarit. Fredborgs Forlag, Stockholm, 1946.
22 For further details on Voros’s meetings with Wallenberg, see Marton Voros, Aven for din Skull, Askild & Karnekull, Stockholm, 1978.
23 Janos Beer, interview with the author.
24 Muller affidavit, Swedish White Papers, 1957.
25 See Maria Schmidt, “Mentes Vagy Arulas? A Budapesti Zsido Tanacs.” Medvetanc, numbers 2-3 (1985).
26 Anna Porter, Kasztner’s Train, p. 265.
27 Source: http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/e/eichmann-adolf/transcripts/Testimony-broad/Kurt_Becher-04.html.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN. DECEMBER 1944
1 Thomas Veres, written testimony, U.S. Wallenberg Association web site.
2 Ibid.