Synopsis
The story of the secret intelligence network set up to organize illegal immigration operations, which made possible, argues Szulc, the birth of Israel. Based on previously confidential archives, extensive interviews, and private correspondence, The Secret Alliance uncovers the blood-for-money deals with Eichmann, Ceaucescu and Saddam Hussein; secret arms purchases; and the heroic efforts of heroic underground operatives who rescued more than two million Jews after Worl War II.
Reviews
Szulc tells the engrossing story of the furtive role played by American Jewry in the rescue of two million Jews in Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, and also chronicles the saga of illegal immigration to Palestine from 1943 to the birth of Israel in '48. While the author considers famliar figures--Mossad chief Shaul Avigur and his American counterpart Joseph Schwartz, head of the Joint Distribution Committee--he introduces many other heroes, e.g., New York department store executive Ira A. Hirschman, who carried out a one-man refugee-saving mission in Nazi-occupied Vienna. Szulc ( Fidel ) also details the bizarre relationship between Mossad and Adolf Eichmann, who traded Jewish lives for cash, and a similar arrangement with Romanian despot Nicolae Ceausescu, who in effect paroled 300,000 Romanian Jews to Mossad for an average of $1000 per head. Equally important, Szulc offers new material about the rescue of Jews from Muslim countries and the mass migration of Soviet Jews to Israel. The former New York Times reporter argues that the birth of Israel was made possible by the immense pressure created by migrations that were set in motion by underground Palestinian operatives and their American partners.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The "alliance" investigative reporter Szulc writes about is the one established by American Jews and their imperiled coreligionists in Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The purpose of the alliance was to get them to safety in Israel. The tale told actually predates World War II, when Nazi plans for the extermination of European Jewry became apparent. The focus is on Eastern Europe in the immediate post-World War II era, when Jewish displaced persons (DPs) wandered about Europe or found themselves in various humanitarian-sponsored compounds. The story is updated with the saga of "rescuing" the Jewish communities of Morocco, Yemen, Iraq, and most recently Ethiopia. Highlighted are the efforts of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, whose organizational talents essentially make it all happen. An excellent historical drama that should be added to Judaica collections and recommended to a wide audience for its humanitarian appeal.
- Sanford R. Silverburg, Catawba Coll., Salisbury, N.C.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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