The Banality Of Goodness: The Story of Giorgio Perlasca (KESS LIVES JUST & VI) (Hardcover)

by Enrico Deaglio (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In a strange twist of circumstances, the Italian Giorgio Perlasca found himself stranded in Nazi-overrun Budapest near the end of World War II and made his way to the Spanish embassy for safety after the collapse of diplomatic relations between Italy and Germany. Using Spanish connections, Giorgio was rechristened Jorge, and, safe for the time being in the Spanish embassy, went to work for the Spanish ambassador. Part of his work was to visit the Spanish safe houses that harbored Hungarian Jews under threat of deportation.

In a story reminiscent of Schindler's List, Perlasca's diary details his heroic efforts to protect these Jews at risk of his life. When diplomatic ties between Spain and Hungary became strained, the Spanish ambassador departed for home, making an offer of escape to his Italian staff member. Perlasca, making the rounds of the safe houses, decided he could not leave the Hungarian Jews unprotected. From that point, Perlasca, "the great impostor," bluffed and blustered his way into recognition as a Spanish diplomat by the Hungarian government, then sparred with German soldiers over one Jewish life after another. In a particularly chilling moment, Perlasca recounts grabbing twin boys in line to be deported at the train station, pushing them into the Spanish embassy car, and then fighting with a German major and a colonel over his right to protect them. The colonel, relenting, turned to Perlasca and said, "You keep them. Their time will come." Moments later the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg informed him that he'd just won an argument with Adolf Eichmann.

Hannah Arendt subtitled her book about Eichmann "A Report on the Banality of Evil," suggesting his crimes were those of an ordinary person. Similarly, The Banality of Goodness reveals the heroism manifest in a seemingly average man. This is a gripping, important addition to the canon of Holocaust literature. --Maria Dolan

From Publishers Weekly
This incredible story confirms an antipode to, or maybe just a variant of, Hannah Arendt's idea of the banality of evil. Perlasca's automatic courage in response to evil is a brand of opportunism that redeems our often overblown claims for humanity. Little in his youth marked him for a hero: after a poor showing in school, he joined Franco's forces, serving in both Spain and Ethiopia. Hoping to avoid further fighting, Perlasca married and got a job with a livestock import company that led him to Budapest. The Italian surrender in 1944 suddenly made Perlasca an enemy of the Germans and he obtained protection from the neutral Spanish embassy. There he joined first secretary, Angel San Briz, working to set up safe houses for Hungarian Jews. After San Briz was recalled from Budapest, Perlasca, fearing for the safe houses, declared himself the new charg? d'affaires, an audacious charade that placed his own life in jeopardy. Perlasca's unlikely background and his modesty no doubt both contributed to his obscurityAhe wasn't "discovered" until 1987, five years before his death in 1992, when those he had helped demanded his recognition. But this same unlikeliness and modesty amplify his inherent challenge to be human, and indict those who did nothing. Perlasca was indeed heroic in extraordinary proportions, choosing risk over safety on a daily basis, and this book is rich with vivid accounts of Budapest, Raoul Wallenberg, Horthy, the papal nuncio and his chilling confrontation with Eichmann. If the writing occasionally veers more to a rather European partisanship, the story itself triumphs.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press; 1st edition (May 28, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0268021546
• ISBN-13: 978-0268021542
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,486,640 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars His courage and chutzpah saved Jews in Budapest in 1944-5., September 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Banality of Goodness: The Story of Giorgio Perlasca (The Erma Konya Kess Lives of the Just and Virtuous Series) (Paperback)

Giorgio Perlasca's story should have been told many years ago. To date, not counting translations, only two books have been published about this brave Italian salesman who was stuck in Budapest after the country was occupied by Germany on March 19, 1944. -- Perlasca had earned the appreciation of Franco's government for fighting on the fascists' side during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, but he later broke with Italian fascism. As a consequence, the Spanish diplomatic mission retroactively awarded Perlasca Spanish citizenship in 1944 and that rendered his existence in Budapest somewhat secure. He began to work with the Spanish mission that provided "safe houses" and documents for Jews during the autumn of 1944. After the Hungarian fascist party, the Arrowcross, overthrew the weak, but official Hungarian government on Oct. 15, 1944, Szalasi, the Hungarian 'Fuehrer," demanded diplomatic recognition from Spain. Rather than flatly refuse, after some delays, the Spanish mission returned home, leaving Perlasca in charge of the Spanish safe houses and thousands of Jews crowded in those. -- This book presents the historical background, the diary of Giorgio Perlasca in which he described his eight months of personal difficulties and almost entirely successful efforts to save the residents of the Spanish houses. -- It is particularly interesting how the representatives of the neutral countries, especially Wallenberg (Sweden), Lutz (Switzerland) and Rotta (Vatican) coordinated their efforts to save persecuted Jews mostly from the Hungarian Arrowcross-linked agents of the government. The diary reflects that the majority of the attrocities were committed not by the German occupiers, but by Hungarians. -- The book also presents ample documentation, including letters from survivors in the Spanish houses, validating Perlasca's diary. -- The story of Perlasca's courageous work and incredible gall ("chutzpah") in dealing with the Hungarian and German officials was largely unknown for 40 years. A thin book, "Az Olasz Wallenberg" ("The Italian Wallenberg") was published by Laszlo Elek in Hungarian, in 1989, that was presumably the first time Perlasca's diary reached the public anywhere, albeit in translation. The appearance of the English translation of Deaglio's widely read book in Italian is a welcome event for anyone interested in rescue efforts and the final phase of the Holocaust in Hungary.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazed by this Fascist Holocaust Hero, February 3, 2000

By A Customer

I was first attracted to this book when I read an article by its translator in Commonweal magazine. The article, "A Fascist who saved Jews" seemed unbelievable to me. However, Banality of Goodness captures perfectly the brilliance of Giorgio Perlasca, an individual in a war full of labels and party-loyalties. Being Italian while posing as Spanish to save Jews in Budapest, Perlasca's story demonstrates the true universality of goodness that confuses and overrides governmental or even religious allegiances. This book focuses on personal virtue and even asks the question, "What would you have done?" This is a Holocaust story like no other. The scenario is not typical, and the perspective is not tragic, but inspirational. Of course, it speaks of the gruesomeness of genocide, but moreso, it explains creative strategies, amazing guts, and a modest hero. America is lucky to finally have a publication to teach us about this story of virtue.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The story of a human being allowing his humanity to triumph., November 7, 1999

By	Peter Stolzman (Branford, CT) - See all my reviews

There is nothing to suggest that Georgio Perlasca would be a hero. He was simply a person who refused to let the evil around him to triumph. Perlasca is an example to all of us who pretend that the suffering of others is none of our business or that we are to powerless to change the world. Inspiring as well as thought provoking.