Jews for Sale?: Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945 / Edition 1

by Yehuda Bauer

Overview

In this riveting book, a leading Holocaust scholar examines the dramatic attempts to negotiate with the Nazis for the release of Jews in exchange for money, goods, or political benefits, and explores the moral issues raised by the negotiations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300068528
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	08/28/1996
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

What People are Saying About This

Alexander M. Schindler

A searching, soul-searing study of a hitherto little explored chapter of the Holocaust: the endeavor of a handful of dauntless Jewish leaders to ransom their fellow Jews from Nazis willing to trade them for money or strategic gain. Jews for Sale? is a work of brilliance and power. It deserves an honored place in the literature of the shoah and further secures Bauer's standing as the foremost Holocaust scholar of our generation.

Editorial Reviews

A handful of Jewish leaders established contacts with Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Eichmann and other Nazis in the hope of negotiating to rescue Jews living in Nazi-occupied Europe from the Holocaust. These negotiators pleaded, resorted to bluffing, offered ransoms or took other desperate measures, as in 1942 when a Jewish group in Slovakia bribed a Gestapo representative with the aim of halting further deportations of Jews. Bauer, a professor of Holocaust Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, argues that Jews who sought negotiations with the Nazis-many of whom were reviled or attacked after the war-were courageous heroes who took the only course available to them to save lives. His revealing chronicle unfolds a complex tale featuring individuals like Czech Jew Alfred Schwarz (alias Dogwood), an OSS agent in Istanbul who tried to forge ties between conservative German anti-Nazis and the Allies; and Zionist journalist Reszoe Kasztner, who dealt with the Nazis in Hungary for the release of Jews in 1944. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This well-written and magnificently researched volume reexamines controversial Jewish attempts to negotiate with the Nazis to effect the rescue of Jews in the Holocaust. Bauer, a distinguished Israeli scholar, focuses on major episodes such as the Ha'avarah ("transfer agreement"), the Weissmandel proposal, the Kasztner affair, and the mission of Joel Brand. Unlike many previous scholars, Bauer unmasks the complexities underlying these abortive efforts and shows how Jewish powerlessness rather than the wickedness of Jewish individuals was to blame for their failure. At the same time, he sheds new light on Nazi motivations and defends Zionist rescue efforts against contemporary critics. Thoughtful, readable, sober, and generally persuasive, this is an important contribution to Holocaust studies. For all collections.-Jonathan D. Sarna, Brandeis Univ., Waltham, Mass.

Library Journal

Bauer (Holocaust studies, Hebrew U. of Jerusalem) examines attempts to negotiate with the Nazis for the release of Jewish prisoners in exchange for money, goods, and political benefits, between 1942 and 1945. He describes the participants involved in various efforts and their motives, frustrations, and few successes, and analyzes the moral issues raised by the negotiations. Bauer recounts success stories such as that of a journalist paying Nazi officials $1,500 per person to save a trainload of Hungarian Jews. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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