Daniel Brand, Hansi and Joel's one surviving son, has been researching the Hungarian holocaust for the last 20 years. Previously, he was a Scientific Attaché for the State of Israel, a senior advisor for Israel's Department of Defense, and a researcher at Israel's Atomic Energy Commission. Earlier in his career, he served as lieutenant colonel in the Israeli Defense Force.

“In 1944 the Hungarian Jewish activist Joel Brand was sent from Budapest to neutral Turkey to broker a deal on behalf of the Nazis – represented by Eichmann – with the Zionists and the Allies regarding the exchange of thousands of Jews for necessary war materials, the notorious “Blood for Goods”... Daniel Brand, the youngest son of Joel and his wife Hansi, has written a meticulously researched and detailed narrative, based on a huge range of historical documents, attempting to unravel the complexities of the controversial deal, its context, its aftermath and his parents’ part in both. … Each part is divided into short clearly written sections, which make this complicated material fairly easy reading. It is a uniquely personal contribution to the accounts of this murky chapter in Holocaust history.”— Glenda Abramson, University of Oxford, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 21:4“The last chapter of the Holocaust—the extermination of half a million Hungarian Jews in 1944—remains shrouded in mystery. How could so many people be lured to their deaths, in such a short time frame, and at this eleventh hour of the war? One of the key controversies concerns Adolf Eichmann’s infamous proposal to release up to one million Jews in exchange for strategic goods. In May 1944, the Nazis dispatched the author’s father, the rescue worker Joel Brand, to neutral Turkey, to submit this bizarre bid to the Zionists and the Allies. In this important book, Joel’s son Daniel rehabilitates the memory of his parents, which has been the object of multiple misinterpretations. In the process, he challenges the idea that Blood-for-Goods was a mere Nazi deception, and the Brands the unwitting dupes who, supposedly, facilitated this endeavor. Instead he argues that the leaders of the free world failed to realize the potential for saving large numbers of victims that was inherent to the proposal.”—Paul Sanders, Associate Professor, NEOMA Business School“Dani Brand’s analysis of the situation in Hungary in the early 1940s is much deeper than most. His is the first I have read to do justice to the frame of mind and confused attitudes of the Jewish population, highlighting their impossible situation at this desperate time. He helps to dispel the image suggested by some, that Jews were ‘like sheep to the slaughter.’ He pays long overdue tribute to the truly heroic activities of the Jewish Refugees Committee. He tells how the JRC leadership (including his own parents) and many young Zionists, without weapons, knowingly risked their lives in the cause of saving others from the death camps. Some, like the JRC leader Otto Komoly, were murdered by the Arrow Cross fascists.”—Tomi Komoly, Hungarian Holocaust survivor

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsPrologue          1. BackgroundHungaryThe Jews in Hungary2. The Brands                  The Beginning of the Holocaust and the First Rescue OperationJoelHansiThe Wedding, 1934–1935The “Golden Age”: The Calm before the StormPart I. Towards Holocaust  3. Early Rescue Operations           Evasion of Labor ServiceThe Rescue from the Deportation of “Alien” Jews4. The Refugees   The Refugees who Arrived in HungaryThe Hungarian Jews and the RefugeesThe Brands and the RefugeesThe Smuggling Operations (Tiyul)5. The Budapest Relief and Rescue Committee      The Members of the Committee6. The Gap between Data and KnowledgeWarning Signs of the Holocaust in HungaryWhat did the Hungarian Jews Know?Part II. Holocaust        7. The Occupation            8. Early Rescue Attempts in Budapest       BackgroundThe Front Line The Bratislava Working GroupThe Auschwitz ProtocolsFive Different Ways for RescueThe Jewish Council: JudenratThe Palestinian OfficeThe JPU (Jewish Pioneer Underground)The Rescue Committee9. The Negotiations with Eichmann: The “Blood For Goods” Deal10. The Destruction of the Hungarian JewryThe PreparationsLiquidation of the Periphery JewsThe Fate of Budapest Jewry11. Rescue Activities in Budapest after Joel Left for His MissionContinued Negotiations with EichmannStrasshof or “Jews on Ice”“The Train of the Privileged”The Forged Documents and Hansi’s ArrestRescuing the Budapest Jews at the End of August 1944Krausz’s Rescue AttemptsThe Jewish Pioneer Underground in HungaryAdditional Achievements of the Negotiations with the NazisOttó Komoly and the International Red Cross (IRC)The Budapest Ghetto12. The Paratroopers’ AffairThe Paratroopers’ MissionThe ParatroopersThe Paratroopers’ Activities in HungaryThe Reasons for the Paratroopers’ Failure in Hungary 13. Hansi: “The Heart of the Consortium”Part III. Indifference14. IstanbulIndifference and NegligenceWhat Could Have Possibly been Done?15. Pre-State Israel, the Jewish People, and the HolocaustThe Jews over the World: What They Knew and How They ReactedJewish Rescue PolicyPart IV. Deception 16. The Struggle for the Narrative   The Jewish Public in Palestine/Israel and Its Post-War LeadershipThe Attitude toward Jewish Rescuers of Jews17. The Kasztner AffairKasztner’s ReportKasztner’s Mission to NurembergKasztner’s Trial  18. Rewriting the History   The Early Years: The Holocaust and Its Victims are Not on the Public AgendaJoel’s Mission Exposure and Its Implications           19. Deception Techniques              Real-Time DocumentsNon-German DocumentsGerman Documents Downplaying the Importance of the Rescue AttemptsEliminating the Brands from the HistoryKasztner’s Unborn ChildrenDamaging Joel’s Reputation and TrustworthinessWho is Misleading?20. The Brands Affair EpilogueAppendicesAppendix 1: Sharet’s ReportAppendix 2: The Jewish Agency Rescue PolicyTimetableBibliography

Daniel Brand, Hansi and Joel's one surviving son, has been researching the Hungarian holocaust for the last 20 years. Previously, he was a Scientific Attaché for the State of Israel, a senior advisor for Israel's Department of Defense, and a researcher at Israel's Atomic Energy Commission. Earlier in his career, he served as lieutenant colonel in the Israeli Defense Force.

“In 1944 the Hungarian Jewish activist Joel Brand was sent from Budapest to neutral Turkey to broker a deal on behalf of the Nazis – represented by Eichmann – with the Zionists and the Allies regarding the exchange of thousands of Jews for necessary war materials, the notorious “Blood for Goods”... Daniel Brand, the youngest son of Joel and his wife Hansi, has written a meticulously researched and detailed narrative, based on a huge range of historical documents, attempting to unravel the complexities of the controversial deal, its context, its aftermath and his parents’ part in both. … Each part is divided into short clearly written sections, which make this complicated material fairly easy reading. It is a uniquely personal contribution to the accounts of this murky chapter in Holocaust history.”— Glenda Abramson, University of Oxford, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 21:4“The last chapter of the Holocaust—the extermination of half a million Hungarian Jews in 1944—remains shrouded in mystery. How could so many people be lured to their deaths, in such a short time frame, and at this eleventh hour of the war? One of the key controversies concerns Adolf Eichmann’s infamous proposal to release up to one million Jews in exchange for strategic goods. In May 1944, the Nazis dispatched the author’s father, the rescue worker Joel Brand, to neutral Turkey, to submit this bizarre bid to the Zionists and the Allies. In this important book, Joel’s son Daniel rehabilitates the memory of his parents, which has been the object of multiple misinterpretations. In the process, he challenges the idea that Blood-for-Goods was a mere Nazi deception, and the Brands the unwitting dupes who, supposedly, facilitated this endeavor. Instead he argues that the leaders of the free world failed to realize the potential for saving large numbers of victims that was inherent to the proposal.”—Paul Sanders, Associate Professor, NEOMA Business School“Dani Brand’s analysis of the situation in Hungary in the early 1940s is much deeper than most. His is the first I have read to do justice to the frame of mind and confused attitudes of the Jewish population, highlighting their impossible situation at this desperate time. He helps to dispel the image suggested by some, that Jews were ‘like sheep to the slaughter.’ He pays long overdue tribute to the truly heroic activities of the Jewish Refugees Committee. He tells how the JRC leadership (including his own parents) and many young Zionists, without weapons, knowingly risked their lives in the cause of saving others from the death camps. Some, like the JRC leader Otto Komoly, were murdered by the Arrow Cross fascists.”—Tomi Komoly, Hungarian Holocaust survivor

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsPrologue          1. BackgroundHungaryThe Jews in Hungary2. The Brands                  The Beginning of the Holocaust and the First Rescue OperationJoelHansiThe Wedding, 1934–1935The “Golden Age”: The Calm before the StormPart I. Towards Holocaust  3. Early Rescue Operations           Evasion of Labor ServiceThe Rescue from the Deportation of “Alien” Jews4. The Refugees   The Refugees who Arrived in HungaryThe Hungarian Jews and the RefugeesThe Brands and the RefugeesThe Smuggling Operations (Tiyul)5. The Budapest Relief and Rescue Committee      The Members of the Committee6. The Gap between Data and KnowledgeWarning Signs of the Holocaust in HungaryWhat did the Hungarian Jews Know?Part II. Holocaust        7. The Occupation            8. Early Rescue Attempts in Budapest       BackgroundThe Front Line The Bratislava Working GroupThe Auschwitz ProtocolsFive Different Ways for RescueThe Jewish Council: JudenratThe Palestinian OfficeThe JPU (Jewish Pioneer Underground)The Rescue Committee9. The Negotiations with Eichmann: The “Blood For Goods” Deal10. The Destruction of the Hungarian JewryThe PreparationsLiquidation of the Periphery JewsThe Fate of Budapest Jewry11. Rescue Activities in Budapest after Joel Left for His MissionContinued Negotiations with EichmannStrasshof or “Jews on Ice”“The Train of the Privileged”The Forged Documents and Hansi’s ArrestRescuing the Budapest Jews at the End of August 1944Krausz’s Rescue AttemptsThe Jewish Pioneer Underground in HungaryAdditional Achievements of the Negotiations with the NazisOttó Komoly and the International Red Cross (IRC)The Budapest Ghetto12. The Paratroopers’ AffairThe Paratroopers’ MissionThe ParatroopersThe Paratroopers’ Activities in HungaryThe Reasons for the Paratroopers’ Failure in Hungary 13. Hansi: “The Heart of the Consortium”Part III. Indifference14. IstanbulIndifference and NegligenceWhat Could Have Possibly been Done?15. Pre-State Israel, the Jewish People, and the HolocaustThe Jews over the World: What They Knew and How They ReactedJewish Rescue PolicyPart IV. Deception 16. The Struggle for the Narrative   The Jewish Public in Palestine/Israel and Its Post-War LeadershipThe Attitude toward Jewish Rescuers of Jews17. The Kasztner AffairKasztner’s ReportKasztner’s Mission to NurembergKasztner’s Trial  18. Rewriting the History   The Early Years: The Holocaust and Its Victims are Not on the Public AgendaJoel’s Mission Exposure and Its Implications           19. Deception Techniques              Real-Time DocumentsNon-German DocumentsGerman Documents Downplaying the Importance of the Rescue AttemptsEliminating the Brands from the HistoryKasztner’s Unborn ChildrenDamaging Joel’s Reputation and TrustworthinessWho is Misleading?20. The Brands Affair EpilogueAppendicesAppendix 1: Sharet’s ReportAppendix 2: The Jewish Agency Rescue PolicyTimetableBibliography

Daniel Brand, Hansi and Joel's one surviving son, has been researching the Hungarian holocaust for the last 20 years. Previously, he was a Scientific Attaché for the State of Israel, a senior advisor for Israel's Department of Defense, and a researcher at Israel's Atomic Energy Commission. Earlier in his career, he served as lieutenant colonel in the Israeli Defense Force.

“In 1944 the Hungarian Jewish activist Joel Brand was sent from Budapest to neutral Turkey to broker a deal on behalf of the Nazis – represented by Eichmann – with the Zionists and the Allies regarding the exchange of thousands of Jews for necessary war materials, the notorious “Blood for Goods”... Daniel Brand, the youngest son of Joel and his wife Hansi, has written a meticulously researched and detailed narrative, based on a huge range of historical documents, attempting to unravel the complexities of the controversial deal, its context, its aftermath and his parents’ part in both. … Each part is divided into short clearly written sections, which make this complicated material fairly easy reading. It is a uniquely personal contribution to the accounts of this murky chapter in Holocaust history.”— Glenda Abramson, University of Oxford, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 21:4“The last chapter of the Holocaust—the extermination of half a million Hungarian Jews in 1944—remains shrouded in mystery. How could so many people be lured to their deaths, in such a short time frame, and at this eleventh hour of the war? One of the key controversies concerns Adolf Eichmann’s infamous proposal to release up to one million Jews in exchange for strategic goods. In May 1944, the Nazis dispatched the author’s father, the rescue worker Joel Brand, to neutral Turkey, to submit this bizarre bid to the Zionists and the Allies. In this important book, Joel’s son Daniel rehabilitates the memory of his parents, which has been the object of multiple misinterpretations. In the process, he challenges the idea that Blood-for-Goods was a mere Nazi deception, and the Brands the unwitting dupes who, supposedly, facilitated this endeavor. Instead he argues that the leaders of the free world failed to realize the potential for saving large numbers of victims that was inherent to the proposal.”—Paul Sanders, Associate Professor, NEOMA Business School“Dani Brand’s analysis of the situation in Hungary in the early 1940s is much deeper than most. His is the first I have read to do justice to the frame of mind and confused attitudes of the Jewish population, highlighting their impossible situation at this desperate time. He helps to dispel the image suggested by some, that Jews were ‘like sheep to the slaughter.’ He pays long overdue tribute to the truly heroic activities of the Jewish Refugees Committee. He tells how the JRC leadership (including his own parents) and many young Zionists, without weapons, knowingly risked their lives in the cause of saving others from the death camps. Some, like the JRC leader Otto Komoly, were murdered by the Arrow Cross fascists.”—Tomi Komoly, Hungarian Holocaust survivor

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsPrologue          1. BackgroundHungaryThe Jews in Hungary2. The Brands                  The Beginning of the Holocaust and the First Rescue OperationJoelHansiThe Wedding, 1934–1935The “Golden Age”: The Calm before the StormPart I. Towards Holocaust  3. Early Rescue Operations           Evasion of Labor ServiceThe Rescue from the Deportation of “Alien” Jews4. The Refugees   The Refugees who Arrived in HungaryThe Hungarian Jews and the RefugeesThe Brands and the RefugeesThe Smuggling Operations (Tiyul)5. The Budapest Relief and Rescue Committee      The Members of the Committee6. The Gap between Data and KnowledgeWarning Signs of the Holocaust in HungaryWhat did the Hungarian Jews Know?Part II. Holocaust        7. The Occupation            8. Early Rescue Attempts in Budapest       BackgroundThe Front Line The Bratislava Working GroupThe Auschwitz ProtocolsFive Different Ways for RescueThe Jewish Council: JudenratThe Palestinian OfficeThe JPU (Jewish Pioneer Underground)The Rescue Committee9. The Negotiations with Eichmann: The “Blood For Goods” Deal10. The Destruction of the Hungarian JewryThe PreparationsLiquidation of the Periphery JewsThe Fate of Budapest Jewry11. Rescue Activities in Budapest after Joel Left for His MissionContinued Negotiations with EichmannStrasshof or “Jews on Ice”“The Train of the Privileged”The Forged Documents and Hansi’s ArrestRescuing the Budapest Jews at the End of August 1944Krausz’s Rescue AttemptsThe Jewish Pioneer Underground in HungaryAdditional Achievements of the Negotiations with the NazisOttó Komoly and the International Red Cross (IRC)The Budapest Ghetto12. The Paratroopers’ AffairThe Paratroopers’ MissionThe ParatroopersThe Paratroopers’ Activities in HungaryThe Reasons for the Paratroopers’ Failure in Hungary 13. Hansi: “The Heart of the Consortium”Part III. Indifference14. IstanbulIndifference and NegligenceWhat Could Have Possibly been Done?15. Pre-State Israel, the Jewish People, and the HolocaustThe Jews over the World: What They Knew and How They ReactedJewish Rescue PolicyPart IV. Deception 16. The Struggle for the Narrative   The Jewish Public in Palestine/Israel and Its Post-War LeadershipThe Attitude toward Jewish Rescuers of Jews17. The Kasztner AffairKasztner’s ReportKasztner’s Mission to NurembergKasztner’s Trial  18. Rewriting the History   The Early Years: The Holocaust and Its Victims are Not on the Public AgendaJoel’s Mission Exposure and Its Implications           19. Deception Techniques              Real-Time DocumentsNon-German DocumentsGerman Documents Downplaying the Importance of the Rescue AttemptsEliminating the Brands from the HistoryKasztner’s Unborn ChildrenDamaging Joel’s Reputation and TrustworthinessWho is Misleading?20. The Brands Affair EpilogueAppendicesAppendix 1: Sharet’s ReportAppendix 2: The Jewish Agency Rescue PolicyTimetableBibliography