The Secret Alliance: The Extraordinary Story of the Rescue of the Jews since World War II

By Tad Szulc

Book Overview

The story of the secret intelligence network set up to organize illegal immigration operations, which made possible, argues Szulc, the birth of Israel. Based on previously confidential archives, extensive interviews, and private correspondence, The Secret Alliance uncovers the blood-for-money deals with Eichmann, Ceaucescu and Saddam Hussein; secret arms purchases; and the heroic efforts of heroic underground operatives who rescued more than two million Jews after Worl War II.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374249466
• ISBN13: 9780374249465
• Release Date: November 1991
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 327 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

2 million Jews left stranded in hostile countries after the Holocaust

It hints at many stories but doesn't focus on any, this is the greatest minus. A very informative account of how secret intelligence networks and the Mossad set in motion operations to rescue more than 2 million Jews from Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East after WWII. The narrative becomes tedious at some points because of the may protagonists and their stories getting mixed up and not dealing in full with any particular one. However, there are now and then some pearls of information, little details of a few lines that are worth the whole book. But these stories of true and anonymous heroism deserve a full book by themselves. Numbers, data, don't reach the heart. it's not the same to say "2 thousand people died yesterday" than to say "Jim Jones died yesterday". It really makes you feel frustrated to get only a glimpse at the lives of these great men and women who dedicated themselves to saving others. Or not to know more about things for example: the Costa Rican consul in France who in 1947 traded with the lives of thousands of Jews (Displaced Persons) selling visa stamps at five dollars each, getting rich on account of the Holocaust. The story is just dropped as passing by. Personally, I would have appreciated more focus too on developments in countries like Spain or Morocco, how they dealt with the situations of thousands of Displaced Persons (Jews): Morocco didn't even consider them Moroccans, but as the King's "children" he wouldn't let them out. Franco's Spain, on the other hand, has a much more positive role here, but only hinted at in a few lines. There's material for many books here, books that should capture the attention of the general public, and not meant to take a space in a shelf like this one may have ended.