DESPERATE MISSION: JOEL BRAND'S STORY.
New York: Criterion Books, 1958. Item #21397
1st US edition. Original Cloth in dust jacket, 8vo, x, 310 pages, 22 cm. “This book gives a personal record of an amazing incident of the second World War, when the Nazis were exterminating the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. In 1944, Eichmann, who directed the mass murders, made to a group of Zionists in Hungary an offer to save a million Jews if they would procure from the Western Allies 10,000 army lorries for the German forces. We have here the story of Joel Brand’s talks with the Nazi officials, his flight to Istanbul, his efforts to convince the officials of the Jewish Agency in Turkey and Palestine, and the British Intelligence Officers in Cairo, of the genuineness of the offer, and to get their co-operation. It was in vain. He was kept in suspense and for a time in detention. Meanwhile Jews in Hungary proceeded to the death camps; only a few thousands were allowed to leave for a neutral country. It is a fantastic story which taxes the credulity of the reader, and in Israel it has caused violent agitation, because the leader of the Zionist group was attacked there for col-laboration with the Nazis and the betrayal of his people. Though translated from the German, the narrative runs easily” (review by Norman Bentwich). Uniform title Geschichte von Joel Brand. Includes index. Illustrated end papers. Subject: Brand, Joel, -- 1906-. World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue. Added author Weissberg-Cybulski, Alexander, 1901-1964. Very Good Condition in Edgeworn Jacket (mx-1-9).
Price: $100.00