Randolph L. Braham: Hungary: The Controversial Chapter of the Holocaust

The destruction of Hungarian Jewry on the eve of the allied victory – when the secrets of Auschwitz were already known to the leaders of the world, including the national and Jewish leaders of Hungary – constitutes a puzzle in the general history of the Holocaust. Professor Braham will attempt to identify and analyse the major parts of the puzzle, which when placed together will reveal the reasons why this unthinkable and unforeseen catastrophe became a reality.

The lecture will focus, among other issues, on the historical roots of the calculations and miscalculations (in some cases outright illusions) of the wartime leaders of Germany and Hungary in pursuit of their particular political and military-strategic objectives as well as the strategies of the Jewish (traditional and Zionist) leaders of Hungary and Slovakia in attempting to ensure the possible survival of their respective communities.

Dr. Randolph L. Braham is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at The City College and the Doctoral Program at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he also serves as Director of the Rosenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies. He is a specialist in comparative politics and is a recognized authority on the Holocaust, author or editor of 61 books, co-authored and contributed chapters to 49 others. Some of his works were used as major source books by courts of law in various countries, including Canada, Germany, Israel, and the United States in cases involving restitution and war crimes. His two-volume »The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary«, published by Columbia University Press (1981), has been reviewed and praised all over the world as a “monumental” and “definitive” empirical work. In 1981, it was selected for the Jewish National Book award (USA). In November 1995, he was awarded the Order of Merit Officer’s Cross of the Republic of Hungary.

Professor Braham has participated in many national and international conferences, served as guest lecturer in many institutions of higher learning in Israel, Europe, and North America, and appeared on a variety of radio and television programs as a commentator or panellist. His life story is the subject of a documentary produced by the Hungarian Duna-TV in November 2003.