Page 53 of The Righteous
Martin started to pick up the report and leaf through it, but Carl said, “Not yet, Martin. Let me tell you about it first, then all of you may examine it. I was meeting with two gentlemen three days ago when Julia stopped by, but I couldn’t interrupt my meeting to talk to her. I apologize.”
Julia smiled and nodded.
“It was because of this report. Believe me when I say it is momentous. It is the proof that Bernhard was seeking before he could tell the world the story about the Auschwitz-Birkenau detention camp. It is such an important story that, if told without proof, it would be pushed aside. No one would believe it. Rudolf and Alfred have written it all in such great detail, with hand-drawn sketches of the rooms, that it cannot be denied.”
Carl continued to tap on the report with his finger like a hammer drill.
“Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler are two Slovakian Jewish men who were taken into custody by the Nazis as they marched through Bratislava two years ago. They were transported to Auschwitz, much like Hungarian Jews are being transported today. When they arrived, they exited a train and stood in line. They waited while an SS officer went through the line, person by person, doing quick selections: those who would live and those who would die. Alfred and Rudolf were big and strong, and they were selected as laborers. They continued to survive because they were strong, were hard workers, and didn’t cause trouble.
They were sent throughout the camp doing construction and repairs, carrying heavy equipment, digging trenches.
As such, they were able to observe the daily lives of the other prisoners, those who were selected to go to the right and those who unfortunately went to the left—those who lived and those who died. ”
Carl looked around the table. “Do you want to hear the rest and read this report? It isn’t easy, and it’s not a requirement.
It takes a strong stomach, but it’s the kind of report that can change the world.
If you stay, I will want you to help me distribute and publicize this report as best you can. ”
Julia, Theresa, and Martin quietly nodded.
“The report says that in March 1943, the Nazis inaugurated the first crematorium at their concentration camp. To demonstrate its efficiency, they took eight thousand Kraków Jews and subjected them to gassing and cremation. They did this before an audience of German officers and civilians. In fact, the camp personnel drilled special peepholes in the wall so that the guests could view the gas chambers in use. The events of that day are described on page 13 of the report. You will also see a sketch of the gas chamber and people inside.”
At that moment, Theresa gagged and ran out of the room.
“I’m so sorry,” Carl said. “We can stop here, if you wish. The report contains more descriptions like that.”
“I’ll stay and hear the finish,” Martin said. “I want to know what is in the report and what kind of people we’re facing.”
“I want to know what the rest of the world will find out,” Julia said. “If I have to be the one to tell them, I will. The world needs to know what kind of people the Nazis are.”
Carl nodded. “Yes, they do, and they will all know soon. This report is presently being sent through diplomatic channels around the world, but you are certainly welcome to tell anyone you choose. The Vrba- Wetzler report relates in gruesome detail what happened to those who were selected to die, or who had outlived their usefulness. On page 18: ‘When everybody is inside, the heavy doors are closed. Then there is a short pause, presumably to allow the room temperature to rise to a certain level, after which SS men with gas masks climb on the roof, open the traps, and shake down a preparation in powder from out of tin cans labeled “CYKLON: For use against vermin,” which is manufactured by a Hamburg concern.’”
Hearing that, Julia and Martin sat with faces frozen in shock.
“‘People clawed at the walls with their fingernails, they screamed, and they charged against the door.’ We are talking about men, women, and even children. All ages. When the screaming stopped and the room was silent, and after a time had passed for the gas to disperse, the bodies were carted out.”
Julia and Martin both stood. Now they had heard enough.
“I’m sorry again,” Carl said, “but I want you both to know what we are going to do with this report. Before we discuss it, Julia, why don’t you go out and see how Theresa is?
If she’s up to it, I would like her to be included in the balance of our discussion.
We will need the cooperation and assistance of her father. ”
A few minutes later, Julia returned with Theresa. Theresa’s eyes were red, and she carried a handkerchief. She was embarrassed and she apologized, but Carl waved it off.
“I felt the same way when I first read this report,” he said. “I cried, and it stayed with me all night.”
Theresa nodded.
“Gyorgy Mandl, also called George Mantello in Switzerland, is presently serving as the first secretary to El Salvador’s embassy in Geneva.
I know him well. Maybe Benjamin Weissbach knows him too, for he comes from Budapest and is an Orthodox Jew.
George has a close friend, a diplomat from Romania, Florian Manoliu, who lives here in Budapest.”
Carl pointed to the report. “Florian was the person who initially received the report from Vrba and Wetzler. After reading the report, Florian wanted the world to know. He met with Vrba and Wetzler, and then he met with me. He showed me the report. He wanted me to deliver it to his good friend George Mantello when I returned to Geneva. That was the secret meeting I had a week ago. Florian asked me if I could help get the report published. They knew that it would have to be published from Switzerland to be believed. It would be considered factually unbiased, and the world would soon read about it. So, I took it back with me to Geneva and gave it to George. Three days ago, it was published, and it has lit a fire. The world is reading it, officially and through the underground. There are protests all over Switzerland: street protests, sermons in Protestant churches, a huge press campaign has started and spread all over the world with over four hundred glaring headlines. They call it Europe’s twentieth-century Dark Age and barbarism.
By the way, publishing this report was contrary to Swiss rules, but it happened anyway. ”
“Sermons in the Protestant churches?” asked Martin. “I’m Protestant. What church, and what did they say?”
“Do you know Pastor Paul Vogt?” Carl asked.
Martin nodded enthusiastically, responding, “Yes. I do. Very well.”
“Pastor Vogt arranged for thousands of copies of the report to be made and distributed. Literally thousands. He preached a series of sermons, which then appeared in the world press. Pastor Vogt laid the blame squarely on German and Hungarian governments for being complicit in the murder of Jews in the Nazi camps.”
Carl took out a folded section from the Sunday Geneva newspaper. On the pages, the headline was GENESIS 4:9–10 . “This section was repeated in several newspapers across Switzerland, and then elsewhere. It repeated Pastor Vogt’s sermon. Want to see?” Carl unrolled the newspaper section.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The Lord said, “What hast thou done? Behold! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth.
” Today, God’s scrutinizing and inquiring eyes are focused upon us Christians.
And He demands of us, Where, where, where!
Where is your brother, the homeless Jew?
… Where are the homeless Jewish children today?
“Winston Churchill himself read the article and responded with a letter to the press. This is what was written.”
There is no doubt that this persecution of Jews in Hungary and their expulsion from enemy territory is probably the greatest and most horrible crime ever committed in the whole history of the world.
Theresa clapped. “The whole world will now condemn Hitler and Germany, but more importantly, maybe the Hungarian people will now rise up and treat their brothers and sisters humanely. Maybe they will force Horthy to leave.”
“You’re right, Terri. President Roosevelt called for the German and Hungarian officials, including Regent Horthy, to be tried as war criminals when the war is over.
The president called for the WRB to find a solution to the genocide being perpetrated by Germany and Hungary.
When you talk to John Pehle this afternoon, no doubt he will tell you. ”
“It’s true,” said John to Julia and Theresa when they called.
“The president responded to the growing furor over the Vrba-Wetzler report. I suppose FDR had to. After all, Churchill wrote that blasting opinion in the Times . Just last night, the president reached out to us at the WRB. We had a meeting and appointed Iver C. Olsen as the War Refugee Board representative in Stockholm, Sweden. In addition to his duties with the WRB, Olsen is also confidentially employed as the chief of currency operations for the Stockholm station of the Office of Strategic Services. He will provide US funds when and where needed for rescue operations.”
“You mean if someone like Raoul Wallenberg needs money to run a rescue operation, Mr. Olsen will fund it with WRB money?”
“That’s exactly what I mean. Given the Vrba-Wetzler report, Congress is loosening its tight grip on money for refugee rescues.
And you will be happy to know that because of you and Theresa, and your suggestions regarding Raoul Wallenberg, the WRB is reaching out to the Swedish foreign ministry.
We are asking that a Swede be appointed to lead a mission to rescue the Jews of Budapest. In addition to you two, Wallenberg is recommended by his former manager, Kálmán Lauer, who says that Wallenberg is the right man for the job and possesses all the qualities needed. ”
“Oh, you have no idea,” Julia said. “All the qualities and then some. Do you want us to reach out to him and tell him that a formal request is coming?”
“It wouldn’t hurt. I understand he is a part owner of the Central European Trading Company. Until recently, they did quite a bit of business here in Budapest, but since March, when the Nazis invaded, the activities have stopped.”
“That is understandable,” Theresa said. “Mr. Lauer is Jewish, though I don’t know why Raoul would stop coming here. And now he is being contacted by the WRB?”
Carl nodded. “I am scheduled to have a telephone conversation with him later this afternoon. Do either of you care to be present? You may be able to influence him to accept the appointment.”
“I care to be present,” said Julia enthusiastically. “What time?”
Carl smiled. “Four o’clock. See you then. In the meantime, I suggest that both you and Theresa meet with Theresa’s father and the rabbi of the Great Synagogue and bring him up to date on the present state of affairs.”
Theresa held up a copy of the report. “May I take a copy with me? I think the rabbi and my father should be informed. I don’t know what they will do or tell their congregants, but I don’t want to keep it secret.”