Language:
French
Year of publication:
1989
Titel der Quelle:
Revue d'Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine
Angaben zur Quelle:
36 (avril-juin 1989) 287-303
Keywords:
Musy, Jean-Marie,
;
Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
;
Jews History 1939-1945
;
Jews
Abstract:
Describes how 1,200 Jews from Theresienstadt were transferred to Switzerland in February 1945 in a rescue organized by the Swiss branch of the Orthodox Jewish Vaad ha-Hatzalah. Their intermediary, the Swiss Catholic politician Jean-Marie Musy, met with SS General Walter Schellenberg and with Himmler in October 1944 to discuss a general release of Jews in return for money. Analyzes the activities of the Vaad ha-Hatzalah in cooperation with the Revisionist Zionist envoy Reuben Hecht, and the obstacles raised by Saly Mayer, representative of the JDC, and by the U.S. War Refugee Board. However, they eventually provided the five million francs for the Theresienstadt group and some relatives of Swiss Jews. On the German side, the plan was opposed by Kurt Becher, responsible for the parallel Kasztner negotiations, and Ernst Kaltenbrunner who sabotaged the plan for a general release of "Germany's enemies." Argues that Musy was motivated by personal gain and the desire for an alibi for his pro-fascist past; Schellenberg also sought an alibi and, like Himmler, hoped for a separate peace with the Allies.
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