Example: Difficulty of Understanding Holocaust

Many Jewish researchers simply do not discuss the issues of the Holocaust forthrightly or honestly.

Below is an article discussing a movie about Rezso Kasztner. Even though the issues were simple, the author cannot quite bring herself to explain why he evoked so much anger that he was assassinated.

Kasztner engaged is a form of triage in choosing who he could rescue. He did not make an effort to inform Hungarian Jews of German Nazi plans while he was negotiating with the Nazis. Of course, if he had, negotiations would have ceased. After WW2 because of an apparent feeling that he owed a debt of honor, Kasztner provided assistance to some of the Nazis with whom he dealt while they were being tried for crimes against humanity.

Revered or Reviled--The Legacy of Kasztner By Hedi Molnar

Killing Kasztner: The Jew Who Dealt with Nazis November 5, 2009 Killing Kasztner is a new documentary film that was nearly a decade in the making. The film brings national and international attention to the story of Rezso (also known as Rudolf and Israel) Kasztner, a Hungarian Jew who rescued more than 1,600 people with a train that eventually went to Switzerland in 1944. Kasztner has been vilified for negotiating with Nazis to allow Hungarian Jews to board the train to freedom. Rudolf Kasztner with his daughter, Zsuzsi. Photo courtesy of Kasztner family and Killing Kasztner. He was a Jew assassinated by a Jew during the post-World War II political turmoil in Israel, where he had resettled. Examining Kasztner's legacy in the documentary are historians, journalists and survivors of the train, including his only child, a daughter, and his three granddaughters. Even his assassin mines the past in conversations with director Gaylen Ross, who filmed mostly in Israel. Survivors of the Kasztner train include Egon Mayer, a prominent sociologist who was a pioneer in outreach to interfaith families and unaffiliated Jews. Mayer was founding director of the Jewish Outreach Institute and published numerous books, including Love and Tradition: Marriage between Christians and Jews (Plenum/1987). Mayer's avocation was the history of Kasztner and his rescue efforts. Early in the film, Holocaust survivors in New York at the Museum of Jewish Heritage contentiously debate Kasztner's legacy. Egon Mayer was a speaker at that June 2001 event, where he said "that a rescue effort by Rezso Kasztner was the single largest successful rescue by Jews during the Holocaust. We also know the accusations leveled against Kasztner and the ultimate price that he paid was leveled against no one else. And so there's a huge question that hangs over this entire story. Why?"

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