Before Wallenberg: Dr. Géza Soos and the Halting of the Deportations (Accepted)

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
After the famous Raoul Wallenberg arrived in Budapest on July 9th, 1944, one of the first persons he arranged to meet for orientation was Dr. Géza Soos. This is not surprising if we consider that, according to recently available documents, both men had been in close contact with American officials in Sweden (including the OSS, the predecessor to the CIA). Efforts to recruit and support both Soos and Wallenberg had to do with the lack of information about Hungary after its invasion by the Germans on March 19th, 1944.
Much research has been available about the rescue work of Wallenberg, but very little about Soos, a leading member of the secret MFM (the Hungarian Independence Movement), involved in efforts to help Jews. Soos acquired, first of all, a copy of the Auschwitz Report of Vrba and Wetzler, which he then smuggled into the hands of influential Hungarian leaders, including Regent Horthy. Documents suggest that Soos and his network were instrumental in uncovering a plot to carry out the deportation of the Budapest Jews, thereby defying Regent Horthy. This discovery provided the basis for the decisive action by Ferenc Koszorus, who entered the city with his tank division and halted the planned deportation. It is noteworthy that this occurred only a few days before Wallenberg’s arrival in the capital. In fact, the initiatives of Soos were necessary preconditions for the success of Wallenberg’s rescue efforts.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Frank Baron emigrated to the United States in 1947. After studies at the University of Illinois (B.A), universities of Marburg and Göttingen in Germany, Indiana University (M.A.), and the University of California at Berkeley (Ph.D.). He began teaching at the University of Kansas in 1970, and while continuing his work as professor in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, he served as director of the Max Kade Center for German-American Studies for about fifteen years. Baron has published books and articles on various aspects of the European Faust tradition. His most comprehensive work on that topic appeared last year: Der Mythos des faustischen Teufelspakts. Together with the Hungarian journalist Sándor Szenes, he published Von Ungarn nach Auschwitz. Die verschwiegene Warnung.