Rescuing the Money

By Steve Rodan

It was called the Budapest Relief and Rescue Committee, a panel formed in late 1942 and aimed to save the Jews of Eastern and Central Europe by smuggling them into then unoccupied Hungary. The panel, eventually taken over by the Zionist movement, told potential donors that it had saved tens of thousands of Jews and was in a position to do more -- if they had the money.

That was the claim.

The real story of the committee is far different, and reflected the profit made by Zionists and their superiors during the Final Solution. The panel worked in virtual lockstep with the Germans, particularly the Abwehr military intelligence agency and the rival SS. The idea was that the committee would receive the equivalent of millions of dollars, save a few choice Zionists and share the money with Hitler's boys.

Because of the vast amounts of money at stake, the Zionists fought each incessantly. They brought in Christian converts, many of them from German intelligence. By the end of World War II, almost every survivor of the Zionist group was wanted for war crimes.

Andreas Biss was recruited late in the game -- on the eve of the German invasion of Hungary in March 1944. Born in Romania and educated as a Christian, he was not a Zionist, a plus for the rivals in the rescue committee. He was a cousin of Joel Brand, who founded the panel. Brand was not much of a Zionist either. But he was valuable, maintaining close contact with German and Hungarian intelligence that made rescue possible and profitable.

Years later, Biss would describe a venture that brought in vast revenues. Germany was in solid control of Poland, which contained 3.5 million Jews on the eve of World War II. Brand had used a Hungarian intelligence officer Joseph Krem to cross the border into Poland to search for his wife's relatives. What the Brands and Krem soon discovered was that the trapped Polish Jews were willing to give anything to flee. And many of them held bank accounts and other assets in Hungary.

Increasingly often the Brands got letters sums of money and messages that came, in part, from the most prominent Zionists of the free world...Until March 1944, before the arrival of the SS, Brand had been confidential agent of the Zionists with the Wehrmacht counter-espionage organization. [1]

Deep pockets

Biss asserted that the rescue committee was geared to the Zionist movement or anybody with deep pockets. Brand ran the show, organizing, through Krem, Hungarian and German officers willing to pull out a few Jews for what could amount to a king's ransom.

Rudolf, known as Rezo, Kastner, was also an early principal in the committee. But Biss played down Kastner's role. Kastner had no head for business and did not understand the murky role of intelligence. His role was largely limited to being a liaison with the Zionist leadership, whether through representatives in Istanbul, Geneva or Jerusalem. This was key because without the backing of the leadership, the rescue group would be seen as no more than war profiteers vulnerable to arrest at any time.

How much money did the rescue committee make? Biss, who ran a chain of businesses in Hungary, suggested that it exceeded millions of dollars. The panel was able to pay millions to SS officers in Bratislava, Budapest and smuggle additional millions to Switzerland. He rose up the ladder as his colleagues left Hungary for freedom abroad. Brand would fly with an Abwehr agent to Istanbul, ostensibly to relay a "Jews-for-goods" scheme. Kastner spent nearly the last year of the war in Vienna, Berlin and Geneva with his SS partners. Others were killed by the Hungarians, angered that they weren't getting a piece of the action.

Trafficker and informer

Not surprisingly, the Allies and governments-in-exile did not regard Biss and his fellows as saviors. Virtually every survivor of the committee was either arrested or wanted for collaboration with Hitler. They were identified as members of Abwehr and the SS regardless of their Jewish roots.

Biss was arrested weeks after the war in the French-occupied zone in Austria. Like Kastner and others on the panel, he was found with a large amount of cash and forged passports. French intelligence was not impressed with Biss' story that he had spent the war rescuing Jews. His captors saw him as a trafficker and informer, responsible for the death of French nationals.

He belonged to the Ludwig Laufer group which was a group of Gestapo informants in Budapest and who worked for a sum of money. This group was commanded by Haupsturfuhrer Klages..Biss was, so to speak, the right hand of Laufer... [2]

In prison, Biss desperately sought a white knight. He wrote to everybody, including those he maintained contact with during the war. The American Joint Distribution Committee, which dealt with Biss as well as with Brand and Kastner, wanted nothing to with him. The Zionist leadership, however, did intervene and sought to retrieve the cash confiscated from him. The heads of the Palestine Office in Geneva sent a letter that hailed Biss as someone who had risked his life for Jews.

We know, especially, from various leading Jewish institutions and personages, that M. Biss during the German occupation of Hungary continuously risked his life with the sole object of saving the lives both of Jews and non-Jews from the clutches of the Nazis. [3]

After three months, France, who became a leading ally of the Zionist leadership, released Biss and returned his money. Now, Biss wanted JDC to compensate him for his efforts during the war. He waited on line with Kastner and his friend in the SS, Col. Kurt Becher. In October 1947, JDC signed an agreement with Biss for an undisclosed sum.

What took place afterwards finally revealed Biss' true loyalties. In 1957, he left Switzerland -- where he alternated his residence with France -- for Germany. Biss was not a German citizen, but he made Berlin his home for the next 33 years until his death in 1990. He lived in comfort and in contact with Becher, now a leading industrialist with close ties to the German leadership. Brand also made Germany his home -- albeit part-time. He also saw Becher as a benefactor. Until he was killed in 1957, Kastner was also receiving help from Becher, but refused an offer to resettle in Germany.

Soon after he arrived in Berlin, Biss wrote a book about his experiences during the war. In his forward, he praised the so-called resistance and German youth for its White Rose revolution. Twenty years later, his book in English was published in London.

The German book had a far different title than the English-language version. The English book, catering to the West and Jews, was titled A Million Jews to Save. The German title was mysterious. It was called Cunning as a Weapon.

Notes

1. A Million Jews to Save. Andreas Biss. Pages 37 and 48. New English Library, London. 1973

2. French intelligence report. July 28, 1945. JDC Collection, Jerusalem

3. Office Palestinian de Suisse, Aug. 10, 1945

Below: Andreas Biss