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Book Summary and Reviews of Kasztner's Train by Anna Porter

Kasztner's Train by Anna Porter

Kasztner's Train

The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust

by Anna Porter

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Mar 2008, 464 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

The heroic story of the "Hungarian Oscar Schindler" who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from certain death at the hands of the Nazis, only to be accused of collaboration and assassinated in Israel twelve years after WWII ended.

Oscar Schindler’s and Raoul Wallenberg’s efforts to save people from Nazi extinction are legendary; Rezso Kasztner, by contrast, is practically unknown, even though he may have been the greatest rescuer of Jews during World War II. He was also the most controversial, and that, along with the relative lack of focus on events in Hungary toward the end of the war, has no doubt led to his anonymity. Now, with the publication of Anna Porter’s remarkable chronicle, Kasztner’s achievements are in full view ....

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"A compelling narrative that does great justice to Kasztner's memory." - Kirkus Reviews.

"“The remarkable achievement of Kasztner’s Train is to bring to life a tale of breathtaking chutzpah, the gravest personal risk, dark intrigue, human frailty, and devastating clashes of personality. Animated by her understanding of the Hungarian context, Anna Porter relays her story with, as was said of the Jewish revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg, impeccable moral taste." - Michael R. Marrus, professor emeritus of Holocaust Studies, University of Toronto.

"Although a well-researched counterbalance to Hecht's account, Porter's defense may swing too much in favor of Kasztner, given that most of the participants are deceased and much of the evidence is anecdotal. Readers, however, will welcome the opportunity to debate the ever-relevant moral issues of doing business with the enemy." - Publishers Weekly.

This information about Kasztner's Train was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Anna Porter

Anna Porter was born in Hungary and personally experienced the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. A celebrated former publisher in Canada, she is the author of five previous books, including The Storyteller, a memoir of her family through seven centuries of Hungarian history. She lives in Toronto.

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