A new controversy over the extermination of the Jews of Hungary loomed today in the expected publication of a new book by Joel Brand, the emissary who negotiated with Nazi mass murderer Adolf Eichmann, now awaiting trial in Israel.
Supreme Court Justice Chaim Cohen and his aide, Amnon Thal, revealed they had sent a letter to the publisher asserting that the book, “Devil and Soul,” contained slanderous references.
A spokesman for the publisher said at a press conference that some of the text dealing with various individuals had been changed but that another letter had been received from Thal asserting that the changes were inadequate and threatening court action to prevent publication as well as a suit for damages.
Justice Cohen was the state prosecutor in the trial of Dr. Israel Kastner. one-time leader of Hungarian Jewry, who was condemned inferentially on charges of collaborating with the Nazis in war-time Hungary.
Dr. Kastner, who was assassinated in 1957, was cleared posthumously by the Supreme Court of Israel in 1958 when that court found a 75-year-old pamphletee, Malkiel Gruenewald guilty of having libeled Dr. Kastner. That verdict overruled a district court verdict sustaining Gruenewald.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
