Jun 2, 2011
Protesting A Park named After Dr. Rudolf Kastner
The city of Haifa decided in 1998 to establish a park that would be named after the memory of those saved from the Holocaust by Yisrael Kastner. They have now begun work on constructing the park and have placed announcements in the area to that effect.
Many are now protesting the naming of the park in memory of Kastner. Dr. Rudolf Kastner, the subject of the book Perfidy by Ben Hecht, was accused of having been a Nazi collaborator. Kastner saved many refugees by getting them out of Hungary on what became known as the Kastner train, paying much monay, gold and diamonds to the Nazis. At the same time, 12,000 Hungarians a day were being taken out of Hungary for "resettlement". The accusation was the Kastner knew "resettlement" was the gas chambers, but played along and did not warn anybody or help them (besides for the 1685 Jews he saved), and in essence had traded tens of thousands of Jewish lives for a small number he wished to save.
Kastner At Trial
The Israeli government sued a writer on kastner's behalf after he called Kastner a Nazi collaborater. At trial the court rejected the defamation claim, speaking very harshly about what kastner had done. Kastner had to resign his government position and the Cabinet disbanded as a result. The Supreme Court later overturned the decision (similar to Demjanjuk). but not before Kastner was assassinated in 1957. The book "Perfidy" which was written about the Kastner scandal, was denounced by the Israeli government and was banned from being sold in Israel until recently.
[RG: I changed some details of the trial info, as what I originally wrote from memory had been inaccurate]
Many people remain unconvinced of his innocence, despite the Supreme Court overturning the lower court's decision, and consider it inappropriate to name the park after Kastner. (source: Mynet)
What Is Worse?
I don't know what is worse - naming the park after such a controversial figure (though really it is being named after the survivors, and not after Kastner himself, though his name is part of the memorial), or the fact that it took 13 years to implement the municipal decision to build the park!
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| Dr. Rudolph Kastner |
Kastner At Trial
The Israeli government sued a writer on kastner's behalf after he called Kastner a Nazi collaborater. At trial the court rejected the defamation claim, speaking very harshly about what kastner had done. Kastner had to resign his government position and the Cabinet disbanded as a result. The Supreme Court later overturned the decision (similar to Demjanjuk). but not before Kastner was assassinated in 1957. The book "Perfidy" which was written about the Kastner scandal, was denounced by the Israeli government and was banned from being sold in Israel until recently.
[RG: I changed some details of the trial info, as what I originally wrote from memory had been inaccurate]
Many people remain unconvinced of his innocence, despite the Supreme Court overturning the lower court's decision, and consider it inappropriate to name the park after Kastner. (source: Mynet)
What Is Worse?
I don't know what is worse - naming the park after such a controversial figure (though really it is being named after the survivors, and not after Kastner himself, though his name is part of the memorial), or the fact that it took 13 years to implement the municipal decision to build the park!
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Kastner wasn't found "Guilty" in a trial; in fact he was never accused in a trial.
ReplyDeleteThe famous Kastner trial was when he accused a journalist of defamation of Character for writing a publication claiming that Kastner was aware of the Nazi's actions and didn't try to warn the Hungarian Jewish Community.
He lost the trial, i.e., the court that there was nothing in the publication that was defamatory; that’s still a far cry from being found guilty of Nazi Collaboration.
According to the book Perfidy, he would have been put on trial as a collaborator, but was assassinated before the trial.
You should remember that Hecht who wrote Perfidy had a political axe to grind. For a different perspective on Kastner, you should read "The Kastner Train". The book doesn't make him out to be a saint, but doesn't imply that he was deliberately collaborating with the Nazis.
I just checked wikipdia to see.. you are right, though the judges issuing the verdict spoke very harshly about him selling his soul to the devil... you are right it isnt the same as guilty verdict of collaboration, but it was pretty close
ReplyDeleteIt is a fact that he testified on behalf of nazis after the war. There is NO justification for that- EVER.
ReplyDeleteThe park should not be named after Rudolf Kastner. There is just too much evidence that he did not do enough to save Jews and may have collaborated with the Nazis.
ReplyDeleteI remember Hanah Senesh's mother telling how Kastner would not provide her daughter with a lawyer and advised against having one. The fact that he didn't save Hanah Senesh from a firing squad is a fact. I wouldn't want a park named after someone with so much speculation. I believe that he was quilty. I just bought the book Perfidy and plan on reading it.
I read Perfidy many years ago. Maybe it is time to read it again
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want a park named afer Rudolf Kastner. The fact that he advised Hanah Senesh's mother not to get her daughter a lawyer and did nothing to save Hanah from torture, prison and in the end death by a firing squad when he had ties with the Nazis in Hungary.
ReplyDeleteKastner was guilty in my eyes after I followed the case in Israel. He didn't do enough to help save Jews when he was certainly in a position to. He was assassinated in the end. Justice was done!
I hope the naming of the park after Kastner was reversed. If not, that is a serious insult to every Jew who died at the hands of the Nazis and their accomplices.
ReplyDeleteHere is something you all don't know
ReplyDeleteAfter the was Kastner travelled to Nirenberg in Germany and was a witness in trial in favour of seven different Nazi generals saving them from execution and this was at the request of the Israeli government. Kastner was executed by the mossad so he would not spill more beans in you know what i mean. The guy was nothing but evil and murderer of half million Jew
פושעי מלחמה גרמנים רבים מצאו להם אחרי המלחמה פרקליט יוצא מן הכלל בדמותו של קסטנר, שליחם המסור של ראשי הציונות. אחד הדברים הראשונים שעשה אחרי המלחמה הוא לנסוע לעיר נירנברג שבגרמניה. קסטנר מסר שם עדות לטובתו של פושע המלחמה הנאצי קורט בכר. עדות זו הביאה לביטול כל האישומים נגדו ולשחרורו.
קטסנר מסר לפחות שלוש עדויות אופי לטובתו של בכר, לפחות שתיים לטובתו של הרמן קרומי, לפחות אחת לטובתו של האנס יוטנר, וכן השתתף בערעור שהגיש פושע המלחמה הנאצי דיטר ויסליצ'ני על גזר דין המוות שניתן לו בערכאה הראשונה.
קסטנר התערב בעניינם של לפחות שבעה פושעי מלחמה נאצים לבקשת ראשי המדינה.
thats amazing. I never knew that
ReplyDeleteCollaborator? He did not have to be.
ReplyDeleteIt is documented that he purposely ignored proof by two escaped Jews that Hungarian Jews were being gassed. He purposely failed to inform them. Do you assert that informing Hungary's Jews could not have helped, as they had no guns? Then I suggest that you imagine yourself and mother and father in the Hungarian populace. Would you want to be informed, or kept ignorant by Kastner.
Kastner will "pay: for his crime in the Highest Court In Heaven.