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There was a very limited category of Jews who received a special treatment. It comprised the war veterans and the Jews with certain scientific merits. Of course one’s merits had to be very high in order to fit the category.
These Jews were not deported, but they were relocated from the countryside to the towns, or suffered some other form of persecution. They were called ‘kivetelezett zsido,’ meaning Jews with exception [6]. Very few were those chosen ones who were exempt from deportation.
There were others who fled to Switzerland, a few Jewish leaders whom Switzerland accepted – being a neutral country, Fascists could not go there. There was this Jewish journalist here in Cluj, Rezso Kasztner [7] was his name.
He had connections within the Gestapo that went all the way to the top of the hierarchy – he had a schoolmate or a friend who served there. He arranged – in exchange for a lot of money, of course – for a few Jewish families to leave for Switzerland [with the Kasztner Group] [8].
I met him in person – he was the youngest of four brothers and had an aunt who lived in Aghiresu. This is how I got to meet him. He worked for the Hungarian-speaking newspaper Uj Kelet [9], founded in Israel. He did save a number of Jews, but most people were mad at him.
Of course, he had put at the top of his list his mother, who was a widow, and one of his brothers, the other two were already in Israel. However, he never got to save his aunt and cousins in Aghiresu, for they had already been deported.
Few of those who made an escape to Switzerland returned home. Most of them left to other countries or to Israel, like the ones this boy had saved. Eventually, Kasztner got to Israel too, where he was shot by a Jew in the middle of the street. This is how he died... They were mad at him, despite the fact that he had tried to do a good thing...
These Jews were not deported, but they were relocated from the countryside to the towns, or suffered some other form of persecution. They were called ‘kivetelezett zsido,’ meaning Jews with exception [6]. Very few were those chosen ones who were exempt from deportation.
There were others who fled to Switzerland, a few Jewish leaders whom Switzerland accepted – being a neutral country, Fascists could not go there. There was this Jewish journalist here in Cluj, Rezso Kasztner [7] was his name.
He had connections within the Gestapo that went all the way to the top of the hierarchy – he had a schoolmate or a friend who served there. He arranged – in exchange for a lot of money, of course – for a few Jewish families to leave for Switzerland [with the Kasztner Group] [8].
I met him in person – he was the youngest of four brothers and had an aunt who lived in Aghiresu. This is how I got to meet him. He worked for the Hungarian-speaking newspaper Uj Kelet [9], founded in Israel. He did save a number of Jews, but most people were mad at him.
Of course, he had put at the top of his list his mother, who was a widow, and one of his brothers, the other two were already in Israel. However, he never got to save his aunt and cousins in Aghiresu, for they had already been deported.
Few of those who made an escape to Switzerland returned home. Most of them left to other countries or to Israel, like the ones this boy had saved. Eventually, Kasztner got to Israel too, where he was shot by a Jew in the middle of the street. This is how he died... They were mad at him, despite the fact that he had tried to do a good thing...
Period
Location
Cluj
Romania
Interview
Elza Fulop