When the Holocaust broke out in Europe, Hansi and Joel Brand were joined by Israel (Rezső) Kasztner to launch an organized effort to save thousands of human lives. Their efforts, which involved playing a dangerous bluffing game against the Nazi regime, helped to end the Auschwitz extermination. Their success put them at odds with the political machine of the young state of Israel. Politicians wanted the public to believe that there was nothing they could do, a sentiment which many still believe to this day. This cover-up led to Israel's first politically-motivated homicide.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Prologue 1. Background Hungary The Jews in Hungary 2. The Brands The Beginning of the Holocaust and the First Rescue Operation Joel Hansi The Wedding, 1934–1935 The "Golden Age": The Calm before the Storm Part I. Towards Holocaust 3. Early Rescue Operations Evasion of Labor Service The Rescue from the Deportation of "Alien" Jews 4. The Refugees The Refugees who Arrived in Hungary The Hungarian Jews and the Refugees The Brands and the Refugees The Smuggling Operations (Tiyul) 5. The Budapest Relief and Rescue Committee The Members of the Committee 6. The Gap between Data and Knowledge Warning Signs of the Holocaust in Hungary What did the Hungarian Jews Know? Part II. Holocaust 7. The Occupation 8. Early Rescue Attempts in Budapest Background The Front Line The Bratislava Working Group The Auschwitz Protocols Five Different Ways for Rescue The Jewish Council: Judenrat The Palestinian Office The JPU (Jewish Pioneer Underground) The Rescue Committee 9. The Negotiations with Eichmann: The "Blood For Goods" Deal 10. The Destruction of the Hungarian Jewry The Preparations Liquidation of the Periphery Jews The Fate of Budapest Jewry 11. Rescue Activities in Budapest after Joel Left for His Mission Continued Negotiations with Eichmann Strasshof or "Jews on Ice" "The Train of the Privileged" The Forged Documents and Hansi's Arrest Rescuing the Budapest Jews at the End of August 1944 Krausz's Rescue Attempts The Jewish Pioneer Underground in Hungary Additional Achievements of the Negotiations with the Nazis Ottó Komoly and the International Red Cross (IRC) The Budapest Ghetto 12. The Paratroopers' Affair The Paratroopers' Mission The Paratroopers The Paratroopers' Activities in Hungary The Reasons for the Paratroopers' Failure in Hungary 13. Hansi: "The Heart of the Consortium" Part III. Indifference 14. Istanbul Indifference and Negligence What Could Have Possibly been Done? 15. Pre-State Israel, the Jewish People, and the Holocaust The Jews over the World: What They Knew and How They Reacted Jewish Rescue Policy Part IV. Deception 16. The Struggle for the Narrative The Jewish Public in Palestine/Israel and Its Post-War Leadership The Attitude toward Jewish Rescuers of Jews 17. The Kasztner Affair Kasztner's Report Kasztner's Mission to Nuremberg Kasztner's Trial 18. Rewriting the History The Early Years: The Holocaust and Its Victims are Not on the Public Agenda Joel's Mission Exposure and Its Implications 19. Deception Techniques Real-Time Documents Non-German Documents German Documents Downplaying the Importance of the Rescue Attempts Eliminating the Brands from the History Kasztner's Unborn Children Damaging Joel's Reputation and Trustworthiness Who is Misleading? 20. The Brands Affair Epilogue Appendices Appendix 1: Sharet's Report Appendix 2: The Jewish Agency Rescue Policy Timetable Bibliography