Customer Reviews

Perfidy

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book gives new meaning to the phrase "cult classic." Published in the early 1960's it deals with one of the great "cause celebres" in Israeli history--the Kastner affair--which remains almost wholly unknown in the english speaking world.

In brief, the story goes like this, Malchiel Greenwald charged Kastner with collaboration in Hungary. Kastner at the behest of the Ben Gurion government sued for libel. Alas Greenwald's attorney, Shmuel Tamir staged a spirited defense and the honor of established Zionist organizations during the Holocaust was challenged. Kastner lost the libel suit, appealed, lost again. And when faced with the possibility of being convicted under Israel's anti-collaboration law (the one Eichmann was convicted under), he was convenient "assasinated."

Along the way Hecht shares many stories just beginning to be written about in english including Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandl's "Europa Plan" and the death of Hanah Szenes. As well as his rather celebratory accounts of Irgun terrorists against the British in Palestine. (I use the term not in condemnation, Irgunists routinely embraced it)

There are many levels in which this book can be read. It can be appreciated as a polemic against the establishment zionism of Weizmann and Ben-Gurion. It can be read as a powerful cautionary tale against nation-states. It can be read as a despairing anguished cry over a humanity that seems hell-bent for nuclear annihilation.

The value for all people who care about the State of Israel is that this was the first--and for a long time only--comprehensive account of this defining moment in Israeli history.
To this very day, public airing of this controversy in english, is discouraged. Jim Allen sought to dramatize the story in his play PERDITION and, in 1987, was twice shut down by major Jewish organizations and was subjected to a libel action by a minor figure in a telling re-play of the original Kastner affair. The action was not sustained, a reading of the play was put on at a community center. (A full account can be found in Uri Davis's book CROSSING THE BORDER.)

On the other hand, Hecht is so close to his subject. Everything is black and white. While he celebrates Irgun actions against the British, he has nothing to say concerning actions against the Palestinians. The name Deir Yassin is never mentioned.

Likewise, by Hecht's reckoning it was the Irgun, and the Irgun only that won palestine for the jewish state. But the establishment of Israel was not just a military triumph but a diplomatic one as well. Without Weizmann cultivating the British and Ben Gurion cultivating the US, there would have been no Balfour declaration, no mandate for the establishment for a jewish state at Versailles, no US support for UN partition, and no US instantaneous recognition for Israel in 1948.

In the interest of balance, it is probably a good idea to compare his account with the relevant section in Tom Segev's THE SEVENTH MILLION. Also for a fuller account of Weissmandl activities and his charges against the established Zionist organizations see THE UNHEEDED CRY. For a scholarly, critical account of rescue efforts and charges of zionist non-cooperation one should see Yehuda Bauer's JEWS FOR SALE. Finally, one should probably look at Trotskyite Lenni Brenner's ZIONISM IN THE AGE OF DICTATORS, while strident and tendentious, there is a mass of devastating information in the book.

A mesmerizing account of the Kastner trial that becomes a harsh and bitter critique of Zionist collaboration with the Nazis. Hecht sets the historical stage, then lets the witnesses tell the chilling story in their own words. This book is near-impossible to find in public libraries. Searching in New York City some 15 years ago, I turned up a single copy in the special collections of the New York Public Library which I was permitted to read (in one sitting) in a locked room. The (unsubstantiated) rumor was that Israeli Prime Minister Ben-Gurion had ordered the removal of the book from public libraries around the world. The New York Times review by Homer Bigart was critical, stating that "Mr. Hecht indulges in some crude distortions of history." In a letter to the Times, Hecht's widow responded that the author "wrote 'Perfidy' to defend the honor of Europe's slaughtered Jews - specifically Hungarian Jews, decoyed and then defamed - against such horrible defamation as that in Bigart's musing." Mrs. Hecht concludes: "'Perfidy' is a book of heroes, of honor for heroes, of pride and love for the Jews who were allowed to die with neither."

Describing a historic tragedy of monumental proportion, Hecht takes the reader on a graphic tour of the hell that was the holocaust, and unmasks many shameless opportunists as it unfolds. We meet the REAL Weizman, Ben-Gurion,and company. We see firsthand the evil indifference of Stephen Wise and his self-hating ilk. But we also meet those rare specimens of indomitability, such as Hanna Sennesh and Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandel. The extreme heights and depths to which human beings can soar or plunge under duress are all part of this incredible story. The book can be difficult to read at times, for the stark horrors and unbelievable cruelty it describes. Truth, however, is the best teacher, and if holocaust studies are to ever be taken seriously, this book should be a mandatory inclusion in any such course taught.

Ben Hecht wrote this book in 1961. In the last 15 years, many historical studies have corroborated Hecht's findings: Ben Gurion and his socialist cronies, as well as most of the Jewish leaders in the U.S., did almost nothing to save the Jews of Europe in 1933 - 45; in many cases, they hindered efforts of rescue. Perfidy describes the shamful Kasztner affair where close to a million Hungarian Jews might have been saved but were betrayed in 1944. A similar pattern, however, occurred throughtout the Holocaust: The Jewish socialists in pre Israel Palestine bowed to the British who did not want any Jewish refugees in Palestine which would have offended the Arabs. The American Jewish leaders considered FDR as God. FDR, and his administration, did not want to help the Jews so everybody kept quiet and did nothing, including the Russians. The only ones who fought this conspiracy of silence were the Irgun members. Hecht dramatizes all these historical facts very well. No doubt, the Allies did not want anything to interfere with the war effort, but their excuses for not trying to save the Jews were cynical and outright anti-semetic. The war years were full of monumental rescue undertakings by the Allies such as the shipping of 40,000 British children to the U.S, and the rescue of several thousands Yuguslav partisans. In 1944, due to the Irgun's public relation campaigns and mounting political pressure, FDR was forced to create the War Refugee Board which saved about 200,000 Jews from slaughter (according to historians' estimates). Hecht did not mention it in Perfidy which does not deal with the U.S. response to the Holocaust. Although Hecht's description of the shamful betrayal of the European Jews by Ben-Gurion, Weiztman, and others has been well documented in recent years, one should not ignore the real Nazi collaborators who did not want millions of refugees on their hands: the British empire, the Middle East Arabs, and the FDR administration. Perfidy includes some prophetic insights which I fully agree with: Governments, and other human organizations, are doomed. Humanity will pay for the torture and murder of six million inocent people.

"The only practical way yet discovered by the world for curing its ills is to forget about them."
This book had been on our shelves for years, conspicuously mysterious with its black cover and the lone word "Perfidy" glinting in gold. Curiosity kept drawing me to it, but suspicion kept holding me back. Until finally a conversation I had with a friend about WWII at last compelled me to begin reading it.
I had been told that it's a difficult - almost dangerous - book to read, because it will change how I see the country I live in, the country I love and whose history I am so proud of. And that it is a controversial account, so much so that it was banned throughout the Land.
From the first pages it is clear this book is not like any other. The force and conviction of the words pierce the soul. Ben Hecht's style is unique and genius. At times cynically witty, at times vividly dramatic, and at times seriously forthright. I couldn't put the book down and at the same time I couldn't sit still and keep my mind focused from apprehension.
Other reviews detail the plot of this book. I would like address issues surrounding it. Firstly, while bitterly controversial, the book is not banned in Israel. Just last week I saw several copies of it in both English and Hebrew at the Mt. Scopus library at Hebrew University. Secondly, does Ben Hecht sometimes sacrifice truthfullness for artistic style? I believe it is possible, because I am a little familiar with Hecht as a writer. Thirdly, did it change how I see my country? Absolutely. While it made me appreciate it more, it made me revere it less.
I think this is the most important book I have ever read.

Wow! This is a must read by anyone who wants to understand the selling out of little Jews by prominent Jews. For so long, this has been whispered about, but these whispers have always been effectively crushed by American Jewry and Israel. The sword of anti-Semitism is quickly drawn whenever the subject is broached.

After reading this book you can no longer doubt the existence, nor effectiveness of sell-out Jews. Their in-actions are no small matter in the ultimate extermination of millions.

Attorney General of Israel, Chaim Cohen summed it up thusly:
"For those (Hungarian Jews) and millions of Jews like them there came true the old curse, 'And lo, they were meant but to be taken like sheep for slaughter, for killing, destruction, crushing and shame.' These should escape? they had no feet on which to run. They should revolt? They had no hands on which to fight. No spirit was left in them..." pg. 164

This statement was uttered in a court as an excuse for the inactions of Israel's government, when they could have saved millions.

The facts are deftly presented in this great and poetically written tale of truth. I won't go into a review of the details, that has been done already. And quite well, I may add. This book will reveal a painful part of Jewish history, that is rarely discussed. It is important to arm yourself with this kind of knowledge to prevent your being hoodwinked by the "leaders" and "protectors" of what is truth. A very worthy investment!!

I consider 'Perfidy' to be the best,most honest,heart-wrenching story written about any subject.Specifically,it happens to be about not-widely publicized facts about "Zionist leaders" of the Ben-Gurion era ,their very slimy connections to Nazi collaboraters-and a despicable record in saving the Jews of Europe(For anyone who disregards this;Israel's "Zionist leaders"
are also taken apart in Tom Segev's,'The Seventh Million'.).Hecht
prophetically states in his opening sentence:"In my own time,governments have taken the place of people.They have also taken the place of God.Governments speak for people,dream for them,and determine,absurdly,their lives and deaths.."

Hecht,then takes off on the theme of 'Everyman' being crushed by
government "leaders".Israel may have had its "trial of the century" in the 50's(aside from the obviously well known Eichmann
trial).A survivor/author wrote a small pamphlet charging the Israeli government with knowingly appointing Hungarian "Jewish
leader"/Nazi collaborater Rudolf Kastner to a government post.The Israeli government sued "the little guy" for libel-and lost.And Kastner
was assasinated.Hecht concludes with the despicable episode of Israeli's "Dress Yiddish-Think British" Zionist leaders with blocking a "blood for cargo-cargo for blood" deal to save Jews because they were more concerned with playing footsie with the British. If the Hebrew Bible were being written today,Hecht's 'Perfidy' would be in it;read it with an empty stomach.

Perfidy is not a thrilling novel, rather a very serious work for any true student of history. It reveals the tragic truth - that while the Revisionists Zionists (Jabotinsky's heirs today's right wing in Israel - perhaps the Likud) together with the Orthodox, did everything humanely possible to save Jews from the Nazis, the Haganah - Ben Gurion and his cohorts (Roughly todays Labour party)not only refused to help them but hindered their efforts. This book was banned by the Israeli government for many years. It is not an east book to read, nevertheless I gave it a top rating because of its important role in revealing who were the true Zionist heroes.

This non fiction recounting of the slander trial against Malchiel Greenwald is one of the most fascinating and at the same time sickening and eye opening accounts of an amoral spiral during the last century. The fact that the most "respected" Jewish leaders of their time were part of the betrayals described in this book is the most disturbing thing to contemplate. I am sickened but educated by reading this book. The author , Mr. Hecht, should have received the nobel prize for his effort.

Other reviewers on this page did a good job describing the subject covered here and their reactions to it. Two Ben-Gurion disciples, Sharon and Peres, still dominate the political scene in Israel and display the same arrogance. They built the country and, in their minds, have a right to do with it what they wish regardless, in Sharon's case, of his own party's platform.

Hecht's economic use of the English language should be an inspiration and an instruction manual for all writers. No fat, not a word out of place, you'll appreciate the style. His prose is as sharp as a scalpel.