‘like a suitcase’ : Rosin, Kulka interview, p. 8.
names of its authors; ‘two young escapees’ ; ‘two Slovak escapees’ : Linn, ‘Rudolf Vrba’， p. 179.
rooted for it : Author interview with Robin Vrba, 16 November 2020.
the unlikely envoy : Zimring, ‘Men’， p. 76.
Rudi’s fellow escapee : Rosin was a member of Hashomer Hatza’ir. See ‘Ernie Meyer: A Sole Survivor’， Jerusalem Post , 30 April 1992.
betrayed by Kasztner : See, for example, the case of the Zionist paratroopers, in Bogdanor, Kasztner’s Crime , pp. 159–76.
to salvage a remnant : Eric M. Breindel, ‘A Survivor of the Holocaust’， Harvard Crimson , 2 May 1974, FDRPL, Vrba collection, box 1.
the most unbending anti-Zionists : Perhaps the definitive example of an anti-Zionist treatment of the Kasztner case is the play Perdition （1987） by Jim Allen.
‘participated in treason and conspiracy’ : Vrba to Joan Campion, 8 August 1979, FDRPL, Vrba collection, box 1. Vrba was referring to Gisi Fleischmann.
‘somewhat anti-Semitic’ : Breindel, ‘A Survivor of the Holocaust’。
Several historians : Gila Fatran and four other historians, ‘For the Sake of Historical Justice’， Letter to the Editor, Yediot Aharonot , 2 June 1998; Yehoshua Jelinek, ‘A Hero Who Has Become Controversial’， Letter to the Editor, Haaretz , 21 June 1998.
‘a genuine hero of the Holocaust’ : Yehuda Bauer, Letter to the Editor, Jewish Journal , 28 October 2004.
‘arrogant’ : Author interview with Gerta Vrbová, 15 September 2020. Vrbová met Bauer and was shocked that the historian used that word to describe her former husband.
‘deep hatred’ : Yehuda Bauer to John S. Conway, 23 May 1985, FDRPL, Vrba collection, box 1.
The World at War : The World at War , Episode 20, ‘Genocide’， Thames TV, 27 March 1974.
‘Should I cry?’ : Vrba, Lanzmann interview, p. 100.
‘survivor clichés’ : Vrba to Rex Bloomstein, 20 July 1981, FDRPL, Vrba collection, box 1.
had betrayed him : Krell, Sounds from Silence , p. 256.
‘accusations and rage’ : Author interview with Robert Krell, 31 December 2020.
dapper in leather coat : Krell, Sounds from Silence , p. 266.
‘an actor reciting my lines’ : Klein, ‘Confronting’， p. 279.
monologue that brooked no interruption : Ibid.
travelled by train : Author interview with Robin Vrba, 22 October 2021.
three-hour lunch : Author interview with Robert Krell, 31 December 2020.
French wine and Scotch whisky : In a letter to his daughter, Rudi listed those aspects of modern life at which he still marvelled. Vrba to Zuza Vrbová, 18 June 1982, p. 1, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
the firstborn son of a chief : Author interview with Robin Vrba, 16 November 2020.
Chapter 29: Flowers of Emptiness
‘a rich and foolish American uncle’ : Vrba to Helena Vrbová, 13 February 1980, p. 3, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
in closer touch with Gillian : Author interview with Gerta Vrbová, 12 July 2020.
‘considered worthy’ : Vrba to Helena Vrbová, 14 February 1983, p. 18, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
male chauvinist : Author interview with Gerta Vrbová, 15 September 2020.
to study malaria : Vrbová, Betrayed , pp. 11–12.
‘6th sense’ : Vrba to Helena Vrbová, 13 February 1980, p. 4, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
‘in a box’ : Author interview with Robin Vrba, 16 November 2020.
‘stable rock bottom’ : Helena Vrbová to Zuza Vrbová, May 1982, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
a third of which had been drunk : Vrba to Dr Peter F. Heywood, Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, 9 March 1984, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
‘Even strong things break’ : The last note from Helena Vrbová, written on 9 May 1982, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
‘the worst experience in my life’ : Vrba to Zuza Vrbová, 28 April 1983, p. 5, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
‘crying fits’ : Vrba to Zuza Vrbová, 14 February 1983, p. 38, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
‘What did I do wrong?’ : Ibid., p. 10.
‘I had a premonition’ : Vrba to Zuza Vrbová, 18 July 1982, p. 7, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
‘pathological sentimentality’ : Vrba to Zuza Vrbová, 28 January 1984, p. 2, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
‘Did she have any particular enemies in PNG?’ : Vrba to Dr Peter F. Heywood, Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, 9 March 1984, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
‘why she committed suicide’ : Author interview with Robin Vrba, 30 November 2020.
lose his sawmill : Ibid.
‘ricocheting bullet’ : Vrba to Zuza Vrbová, 28 April 1983, p. 6, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
Helena’s ‘soul’ : Vrba to Zuza Vrbová, 18 July 1982, pp. 6–8, shared with the author by Gerta Vrbová.
Chapter 30: Too Many to Count
‘bitter, drunk and forgotten’ : Linn, ‘Rudolf Vrba’， p. 181.
never let on that Laník was him : The story was told to the author by Dr Martin Kor? ok, Head of the Sered’ Holocaust Museum, Slovakia, 7 August 2021.
never once met a prisoner : Vrba, ‘Preparations’， p. 241.
‘Hungarian Jews were aware’ : Bauer, Rethinking , p. 236.
‘We had no inkling’ : Elie Wiesel, ‘A Survivor Remembers Other Survivors of “Shoah ”’， New York Times , 3 November 1985, section 2, p. 1.
‘evoke any fear’ : Langbein, People , p. 117.
‘Nobody cared enough to tell us: Don’t go’ : Nicholls, Christian Antisemitism , p. 236.
‘complete annihilation of the Jews’ : Gilbert, Auschwitz , p. 20.
‘so-called “settlers”’ : Ibid., p. 94.
informed by its apostolic nuncio : Porter, Kasztner’s Train , pp. 182–3.
‘scepticism and disbelief … and even prejudice’ : Gilbert, Auschwitz , p. viii.
‘laying it on too thick’ : Ibid., p. 99.
‘usual Jewish exaggeration’ : Kárn?, ‘Report’， p. 562.
‘these wailing Jews’ : Gilbert, Auschwitz , p. 312.
the ‘unknown destination’ : Martin Gilbert, ‘Could Britain have done more to stop the horrors of Auschwitz?’， The Times , 27 January 2005.
new research : See the work of Richard Breitman, Barbara Rogers and Michael Fleming among others.
mentioning the murder of Jews : Fleming, ‘Elusiveness Narrative’， pp. 3–4.
margins of its propaganda effort : Ibid., pp. 8–9.
thirty-five of them : Ibid.
‘Nothing else made sense’ : Klein, ‘Confronting’， pp. 260–1.
waiting for him : Ibid., p. 263.
not one had believed him : Ibid., p. 274.
‘the most natural escape’ : Ibid., p. 275.
‘you are going to your death’ : Mordowicz, USHMM interview, p. 73.
repressed that knowledge : Klein, ‘Confronting’， p. 274.