Kastner train – Budapest, Rakosrendezo Train Station

Fact of the Hungarian figure „Brick Factory in Obuda – The Holocaust in Hungary”

Part of the „The Holocaust” topic

In June 1944, amidst the ongoing deportations of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, a remarkable and controversial rescue mission took place: the departure of the Kastner Train from Rákosrendező Train Station in Budapest. This train, negotiated by Rezső Kastner, the vice-chairman of a Budapest-based Zionist organization, allowed 1,684 Jews to escape Nazi-occupied Hungary in exchange for a substantial ransom of $1,000 per person, paid to the Germans.

The passengers aboard the Kastner Train represented a cross-section of Hungarian Jewish society. Wealthy families who financed the action were joined by leaders of both religious and secular Jewish communities, as well as members of the intelligentsia. The train also included refugees from neighboring countries like Poland and Slovakia, emphasizing the broader Central European context of Jewish persecution and rescue efforts during the Holocaust.

While the original agreement was for the train to take its passengers directly to neutral Switzerland, the group was diverted to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. There, they spent months under difficult conditions before eventually being allowed to continue to Switzerland. This delay heightened the controversy surrounding the deal, as the fate of the passengers remained uncertain for some time. Despite the hardships, the train’s passengers ultimately reached safety, making it one of the few successful rescue efforts during the Holocaust.

However, the Kastner Train remains a subject of intense debate, both in Hungary and internationally. Kastner’s decision to negotiate with Adolf Eichmann and other Nazi officials sparked accusations that he had compromised with evil, particularly since the majority of Hungary’s Jewish population—nearly 450,000 people—were being sent to Auschwitz during the same period. Critics argue that Kastner’s focus on saving a select group, including his own family members, may have detracted from efforts to save a larger portion of the population. These concerns culminated in a postwar lawsuit in Israel, where Kastner faced accusations of collaborating with the Nazis. Though ultimately acquitted of all charges, the case cast a long shadow over his legacy. In 1957, Kastner was assassinated in Tel Aviv, a tragic end to a man whose actions during the war remain both celebrated and contested.