The Envoy: The Epic Rescue of the Last Jews of Europe in the Desperate Closing Months of World War II [ペーパーバック]

Alex Kershaw's "The Envoy" is a well-researched account of the fate of Hungary's Jewish population during the final years of World War II. It is also a tribute to Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who risked his life repeatedly to save as many Jews as possible. In January, 1942, fifteen Nazi party officials attended a conference at Wannsee, on the outskirts of Berlin. One of the attendees was Adolf Eichmann, "the head of the Gestapo's Section IVB for Jewish Afairs." After a discussion that lasted an hour and a half, the group decided that Eichmann "would be the chief administrator of 'the greatest genocide in history.'"

Before Hungary's Jews became a target for annihilation, many terrified refugees fled there from occupied countries such as Czechoslovakia. At one time, Hungary was "a promised land for Jews on the run; the only place where you could be a Jew and stay alive." Three hundred thousand Jewish refugees from Nazi-controlled Europe sought sanctuary in Hungary, but they would eventually realize, to their horror, that they had unwittingly jumped from the frying pan into the fire. In 1944, with the cooperation of the Hungarian government, the Germans decided to launch an initiative to remove "the country's million-odd Jews, the last significant population in Europe." "It will be a deportation surpassing every preceding operation in magnitude," Eichmann crowed.

The author focuses on several families and individuals who struggled to stay alive. He follows their efforts to escape deportation as the noose gradually tightens. Some fled to forests. In other cases, righteous gentiles protected their Jewish neighbors by hiding them in attics, cellars, and crawl spaces. These were chaotic times, during which Hungarian Jews rode a roller coaster of emotions that ranging from guarded optimism to terror and despair.

Thirty-two year old Raoul Wallenberg was superbly qualified to launch a rescue mission. He spoke German and some Hungarian; he was from Sweden, a neutral country; and he was "an independent spirit who [did] not need much direction." Using any method at his disposal, including trickery, political pressure, and bribery, Wallenberg managed to save thousands of Jews. America's War Refugee Board provided funds to the tune of more than $200,000 to help bankroll Wallenberg's efforts. Sadly, after the war, this courageous man disappeared into the Soviet prison system. His family's untiring efforts to locate him were unsuccessful.

"The Envoy" is a readable, detailed, and moving work that shows humanity at its most bestial and most sublime. Kershaw vividly demonstrates how prejudice and hatred can lead even cultured and educated people to commit unspeakable atrocities; how a lucky few miraculously survived to recount their amazing experiences, although the trauma they suffered would remain with them for the rest of their lives; and how one courageous and daring man, with the help of other like-minded individuals, brazenly defied the Nazi juggernaut and followed the dictates of his conscience. The book is enhanced by an extensive bibliography, black and white photographs, informative endnotes, and a thorough index.

The Envoy is Alex Kershaw's testimonial to Raul Wallenberg and his campaign to save the Jews of Hungary from extermination by Nazi Germany in 1944. Best-selling author Kershaw dramatically pulls the reader into the diabolical campaign of Adolf Eichmann to send more than 250,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. With the nail-biting suspense of a winning novelist, Kershaw uses solid research and anecdotal data to show how it felt to be just one step ahead of the SS and their cruel Hungarian proxies, the Arrow Cross.

Based upon the latest information from survivors, international archives, personal interviews and multiple records, The Envoy is a brilliant examination of the rescue of Hungarian Jews near the end of the Holocaust, led by the brave Swiss diplomat, Raul Wallenberg. Kershaw gives the reader a fiery collection of facts as explained in detail by survivors and records, woven into a thrilling and detailed account of Wallenberg's courageous efforts to save thousands Jewish families from certain death.

Kershaw's meticulous research opens a comprehensive analysis of Adolph Eichmann and his desperate need to fulfill Hitler's command to make Europe Judenrien. We learn that the chain-smoking Nazi leader was compelled to do anything that would endear himself to The Fuehrer. In this case, it was the destruction of the Jews of Hungary. Kershaw describes how Eichmann poured himself into the task with gusto.

By 1944, most of the Jews of Europe had already been shot and buried or gassed to death in a Nazi death camp. Only the Jewish families of Hungary remained alive. Eichmann's job was to send them as quickly as possible to Auschwitz, for Special Treatment. In April and May, Eichmann increased the evacuation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz to an estimated rate of 12,000 per day. When trains and trucks had been commandeered to the front lines, Eichmann forced innocent Jewish men, women and children onto a terrifying death march. Kershaw deftly employs interviews and recorded data, bringing to life some of the most tormenting and frightening moments of this march.

At that time, the world had begun to discover the vast persecution and genocide of European Jews by Nazi Germany. Upon learning that the Jews of Hungary were about to be exterminated, President Roosevelt ordered diplomat Iver Olson to Stockholm, to intervene. Because Sweden was officially neutral in WWII, only their diplomats could go to Hungary to provide protection for Jews. Olson named a tall, thirty-two year-old Swedish diplomat named Raul Wallenberg for the position. The affluent Wallenberg, whose academic credentials came from The University of Michigan, was fluent in German, Hungarian and Russian. His mission was to save as many of Hungary's Jews as possible by providing them with Swedish protection papers, called a "Shutzpass." He also financed the purchase of 32 safe houses, protected as Swedish property. He put up signs such as "The Swedish Library" and "The Swedish Research Institute" on their doors and hung oversize Swedish flags on the front of the buildings to bolster the deception. Into these safe houses poured the lifeblood of Hungarian Jewish families. Most Jews caught outside of a safe house were sent to the gas chambers at Auschwitz. Others were shot by the Hungarian Arrow Cross, their bodies dumped into the Danube.

Together with Swedish diplomat Per Anger, Wallenberg distributed thousands of protective passports and bribed hundreds Hungarian officials. In doing so, at the danger of his own life, Wallenberg defied Eichmann and the brutal Hungarian Arrow Cross. Tens of thousands of Shutzpass papers were created; the lucky recipients were boarded in Wallenberg's Budapest safe houses. There was little food, heat or water. Most buildings had been deprived of electricity through massive Allied bombings. Survivors hid in scorching attics, froze in damp, cramped basements and at every moment faced arrest and deportation to Auschwitz, or summary execution. Parents watched in horror as their children caught outside a safe house were shot. But thousands of Wallenberg Jews remained alive through his courage and determination.

Two days before the Russian Army occupied Budapest, Wallenberg negotiated with Eichmann to cancel a final effort to organize a death march of the remaining Jews in Budapest by threatening to have him prosecuted for war crimes once the war was over. Then, as Budapest was liberated by Russia, Wallenberg traveled to meet with the leading Russian general, in order to negotiate fair treatment of his Jews. Wallenberg was arrested by Russian authorities and sent to Moscow. He then disappeared completely.

If there is a portion of The Envoy that leaves the reader disappointed it is the lack of data about Wallenberg after he was detained by Russia. Could Kershaw have dug a little deeper? Perhaps this will be the subject of a future work. The photographs at the end of the book enhance the depth of the story. Yet, we are left to wonder what really happened to this wonderful, courageous man after his arrest by Soviet Russia.

As many as 100,000 Wallenberg Jews survived and perhaps one million of their progeny are alive today because of his resolve and courage. Kershaw's brilliant effort is one that should be read by everyone who values freedom, tolerance and liberty. Named a "Righteous Person" by Israel, generations will live on because of Wallenberg's courage. Alex Kershaw has delivered a masterpiece about Raul Wallenberg, as witnessed from every perspective.

Reviewer Charles S. Weinblatt is the author of Jacob's Courage: A Holocaust Love Story (Mazo Publishers 2007).

I just finished this book and it succeeded in allaying and obliterating any ignorance I had of Raoul Wallenberg's exploits in Hungary in 1944. It is also an intimate depiction of Adolph Eichmann, his cohort, and the Third Reich-history vis-a-vis Hungary in the third act of WW2. I didn't know that Himmler ordered a cessation of deportations and that Eichmann disobeyed him. I only had a slight knowledge of the nazi seizure of power in the wake of Admiral Horthy's kidnapping. Also included are the underlings, Theodore Dannaker, for example, a player in the 1942 expulsion of the Jews from Paris. The book's later pages include the the swallowing of Wallenberg by the ridiculous NKVD, the pathetic attempts by the family to uncover what happened to him and, finally, the entirely unsatisfactory and cynical Soviet explanation of his death due to a "heart attack". Finally, Hungary is shown for the nexus of hideous anti-semitism that it was. I love being edified. Well done, Mr. Kershaw.