An especially harsh letter sent by journalist Malchiel Gruenwald to Dr. Moshe Keren (reporter and political commentator for Haaretz) against Israel Kastner, at the height of the affair that shook the State of Israel, following the verdict in his trial, in which Judge Benjamin Halevi ruled that Kastner had “sold his soul to the devil” by collaborating with the Nazis in the extermination of Hungarian Jewry and in saving the war criminal Kurt Becher from punishment. July 10, 1955. Typewritten and signed in Gruenwald’s handwriting. In German.
The letter was sent to Dr. Keren following a cold response he published after the verdict was handed down in the Kastner trial. In his letter, Gruenwald expresses himself in extremely harsh terms against Kastner and his character, writing: “In his entire life, this man has never worked a single hour in public service, always only for money and… other things, because a pathological card player and gambler, a scoundrel, a drunkard, a womanizer can never have enough money. It must be said, to the credit of my attorney, that out of caution, he did not wish to bring up ‘old matters, ‘ otherwise the trial would still not be over. I can present to you dozens of people living here who fell victim to his passport and document fraud already in the early 1930s. He directly endangered the lives of these people when they fled Cluj as military refugees, and the funds entrusted to him were lost. Time will tell, indeed, it is entirely possible that all these matters will be reopened in the event of further investigation, and the case of the ‘missing’ relief packages for the starving and freezing forced laborers in southern Russia, which led to a lengthy disciplinary inquiry (and a pathetically miserable cover-up), etc. all to protect the ‘public figure.’ Do take the trouble to look up my records, and perhaps you will witness your own miracles. Perhaps you are also interested in the scandalous and close connection between Kastner and the wild antisemite Dr. Vajah-Voevoda Sándor in Transylvania. John was also interested in gathering information on the subject and asking Kastner why he could say to the judge that he does not know ‘where, with which party, his place is in Israel’ when it was proven that, after his suspiciously late arrival here, he sought connections with various parties, even with Lehi, in exchange for the promise of a well-paid position abroad? A man who belonged to Mapai abroad with a regular salary doesn’t know where his place is in Israel. Is he not a careerist of the worst kind?” I do not wish to burden you with further ominous matters, but perhaps, as the editor of a respected newspaper, you should consider whether you have chosen the right approach in addressing Kastner’s wrongdoings…
Malchiel Gruenwald”.
Israel Rudolf Kastner – journalist, jurist, and Zionist activist in Hungary during the Holocaust. He is best known for his efforts to rescue Hungarian Jews, most notably by leading the train that departed Budapest for Switzerland in June 1944 – through which approximately 1,684 Jews were saved, in coordination with Adolf Eichmann and members of the SS. After immigrating to Israel, Kastner became the spokesman for the Ministry of Trade and Industry and a political activist within Mapai. However, in 1952, the weekly newspaper HaOlam HaZeh published an article harshly criticizing him and accusing him of collaboration with the Nazis. Journalist Malchiel Gruenwald, in his duplicated bulletin titled Letters to Mizrachi Members, accused Kastner of collaborating with the Nazis, allegedly having “sold his soul to the devil” to save his close associates while concealing information about the fate of Hungarian Jewry. The State of Israel chose to prosecute Gruenwald for libel, effectively making Kastner a kind of prosecutor on behalf of the state. On June 22, 1955, Judge Benjamin Halevi ruled that “Kastner sold his soul to the devil” – an extremely severe statement, seen as a vindication of Gruenwald’s claims. Halevi determined that Kastner had withheld information from Hungarian Jews about their fate in the extermination camps, and that his postwar testimony in favor of Nazi war criminal Kurt Becher pointed to “collaboration.” The ruling caused a public uproar in Israel. The ruling Mapai government, which had supported Kastner, came under fierce attack. Kastner became a public symbol of “concealing the truth” and “governmental indifference.” In March 1957, Kastner was assassinated in Tel Aviv by a right-wing extremist. After his death, the Supreme Court overturned the main aspects of the ruling. It was determined that Gruenwald had indeed defamed Kastner, and that there was no evidence of actual “collaboration” with the Nazis. The affair sharpened the political divide in Israel between right and left, between differing attitudes toward the Holocaust, and between personal morality and collective survival.
[2] leaves. 28×21 cm. Good condition.
