Andrew Handler. A Man for All Connections: Raoul Wallenberg and the Hungarian State Apparatus, 1944-1945. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1996. xiv + 123 pp. $49.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-275-95214-3. Reviewed by Thomas Sakmyster Published on HABSBURG (June, 1996) The purpose of this short study (only 116 summarizes the fndings of such scholars as Ran‐ pages of text and footnotes) is to provide the Hun‐ dolph Braham and Gyorgy Ranki. However, there garian political context for the humanitarian mis‐ are some major omissions in the secondary sion of Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest in the last sources Handler has consulted. He makes very lit‐ months of World War II. Andrew Handler con‐ tle use of the pioneering work of C.A. Macartney, tends that the previous studies of Wallenberg and seems unaware of the important books of have created "misleading images and percep‐ Mario Fenyo on Hungary in World War II and tions" and have led to "inaccurate interpretations Margit Szollosi-Janze on the Arrow Cross Move‐ and conclusions" (p. x). He emphasizes the key ment.[1] My own study of Admiral Horthy and his role of various representatives of the Hungarian regime [2] apparently appeared too late for Han‐ state apparatus as collaborators, to a greater or dler to use. Because the author has not made a lesser degree, with Wallenberg, and asserts that systematic study of the secondary literature, his without the covert aid of such individuals Wallen‐ narrative lacks comprehensiveness and his inter‐ berg's efforts would have had little or no success. pretations are at times problematical. The frst four of the fve chapters of the book The ffth chapter, in which Handler focuses are devoted to a sketch of the Hungarian regime more directly on the activities of Wallenberg, con‐ between the wars and political developments dur‐ tains more useful and interesting material. Here ing World War II. The author, himself a Hungari‐ he examines the complex story of how Wallen‐ an survivor of the Holocaust, emphasizes the rela‐ berg bargained and negotiated with representa‐ tively favorable treatment of Jews in Hungary tives of the Arrow Cross regime of Ferenc Szalasi. compared to wartime conditions elsewhere in Making good use of recently published memoirs Nazi-dominated Europe. His treatment of the ma‐ and the records of the trials of Szalasi and his col‐ terial in this section of the book is workmanlike, leagues in 1946, Handler throws new light partic‐ but he has little new to say and in effect he merely ularly on the role played by the Foreign Minister, H-Net Reviews Gabor Kemeny; and by a journalist, Pal Szalai. Yet cers hiding in Hungary. The Swedish Embassy here too the author's account is far from compre‐ safe in which Wallenberg deposited these docu‐ hensive, and neither here, nor in a one-page con‐ ments was later opened by the Russians, and it is clusion, does he convincingly argue the point that possible that the discovery of such sensitive mate‐ Wallenberg could not have succeeded without the rial led to Wallenberg's arrest and abduction to assistance of these individuals. Given the title of the Soviet Union. the book, surprisingly little attention is paid to the [1] Mario Fenyo, Hitler, Horthy, and Hungary. actual activities of Wallenberg in Budapest. More‐ German-Hungarian Relations, 1941-1944 (New over, the sources Handler employs to construct Haven: Yale University Press, 1972); Margit Szol‐ his narrative in this chapter are quite narrow in losi-Janze, Die Pfeilkreuzlerbewegung in Ungarn scope. He relies almost exclusively on Jeno Levai's (Munich: Oldenbourg, 1989). study of Wallenberg, which was published in [2] Thomas Sakmyster, Hungary's Admiral on 1948.[3] There is considerable merit to Handler's Horseback. Miklos Horthy, 1919-1944 (Boulder: argument that Levai's book is an important East European Monographs, 1994). source that has been overlooked by those who have written about Wallenberg, most of whom [3] Jeno Levai, Raoul Wallenberg regenyes could not read Hungarian. Yet many of the dozens elete, hos kuzdelmei, rejtelyes eltunesenek titka of books on Wallenberg in the last two decades (Budapest: Magyar Teka, 1948). contain much useful information, some from [4] Gilbert Joseph, Mission sans retour. Swedish archives. Handler simply ignores these L'affaire Wallenberg (Paris: Albin Michel, 1982); works, as well as an important article by Eva Sz‐ Per Anger, With Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest abo, a Hungarian historian, that deals specifically (New York: Holocaust Library, 1981); Eva Szabo, with the Hungarian context of Wallenberg's mis‐ "A magyarorszagi sved mento-akcio tortenetehez sion.[4] (1944," Tortenelmi Szemle, 30 (1987-88), 379-94. Andrew Handler is the author of a number of [5] Andrew Handler, An Early Blueprint for valuable books on aspects of the history of the Zionism: Gyozo Istoczy's Political Anti-semitism Jews in modern Hungary, including an important (Boulder: New York: East European Monographs; study of Gyozo Istoczy, the founder of modern Distributed by Columbia University Press, 1989). Hungarian anti-Semitism.[5] The book under re‐ East European Monographs, No. 261. view, however, is a disappointment. It is poorly [6] Vilmos Bondor, A Miko-rejtely. Miko edited (for example, in chapter four the footnotes Zoltan es Raoul Wallenberg kapcsolata a magyar are not synchronized with the text) and ultimate‐ ellenallasban, 1944-45 (Budapest: Puski, 1996). ly adds little to our understanding of the topic. Copyright (c) 1996 by H-Net, all rights re‐ The important material could have been con‐ served. This work may be copied for non-profit densed into a journal article. Those interested in educational use if proper credit is given to the re‐ the mysteries surrounding Wallenberg's mission viewer and to HABSBURG. For other permission, in Budapest would do better to turn to a book re‐ please contact <[email protected]> and <li‐ cently published in Hungary [6], where it is sug‐ [email protected]>. gested that Wallenberg was working closely with certain Hungarian military officers active in the anti-Nazi resistance. These officers apparently persuaded Wallenberg to accept for safekeeping a group of resistance records, including material on the Katyn Forest massacre provided by Polish offi‐ 2 H-Net Reviews If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/habsburg Citation: Thomas Sakmyster. Review of Handler, Andrew. A Man for All Connections: Raoul Wallenberg and the Hungarian State Apparatus, 1944-1945. HABSBURG, H-Net Reviews. June, 1996. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=472 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.