2022年经济学人 来自地狱的警告（2）（在线收听）

Vrba and Wetzler hoped that by alerting the Hungarian Jewish leadership—and the world—to the reality of Auschwitz, they would save Hungary’s Jews.

弗尔巴和韦茨勒希望，通过让匈牙利犹太领导人和全世界认识到奥斯维辛集中营的现实，他们能够拯救匈牙利的犹太人。

Their report reached Budapest at the end of April 1944.

他们的报告于1944年4月底到达布达佩斯。

Yet between May and July Hungarian officials enthusiastically deported almost 440,000 Jews from the provinces to Auschwitz, most of whom were killed on arrival.

然而，在5月至7月期间，匈牙利官员热情地将近44万犹太人从各省驱逐到奥斯威辛集中营，其中大多数人在抵达时被杀害。

The behaviour of Hungary’s Jewish leaders remains controversial.

匈牙利犹太领导人的行为仍然存在争议。

Rezso Kasztner, a prominent Zionist, presented the report to the country’s Jewish Council on April 29th.

著名的犹太复国主义者雷索·卡斯特纳于4月29日向该国的犹太委员会提交了这份报告。

Kasztner negotiated with the Nazis for the lives of nearly 1,700 Jews; whether he smoothed the path to destruction for others has always been fiercely debated.

卡斯特纳与纳粹就近1700名犹太人的生命进行了谈判；他是否为其他人铺平了毁灭之路这一点一直备受争议。

Echoing Vrba’s judgment, Mr Freedland thinks that, by not doing more to publicise the report, Kasztner gave the Nazis “the one thing they deemed indispensable...Order and quiet”.

弗里德兰先生赞同弗尔巴的观点，认为卡斯特纳没有做更多的事情来公开这份报告，反而给了纳粹“一样他们认为不可或缺的东西……秩序和安静”。

Arguably, though, the Jewish Council itself, which had far more influence, deserves more blame.

不过，可以说，影响力要大得多的犹太委员会理应受到更多指责。

The underlying point about the report’s reception is wider, and profound.

这份报告被接受的潜在意义更广泛、更深刻。

Vrba was sure, says Mr Freedland, that “facts could save lives”.

弗里德兰先生说，弗尔巴确信“真相可以拯救生命”。

Yet, he observes, “only when information is combined with belief does it become knowledge.”

然而，他注意到，“只有当信息和相信结合在一起时，它才会成为知识。”

If the facts are unpalatable or outlandish—as the hell of the camp seemed to many Jews, and some Allied leaders—denial and cognitive dissonance can stifle the urge to act.

如果真相令人不快或感到离奇--正如集中营的地狱给许多犹太人和一些盟军领导人的感觉一样--否认和认知失调可能会抑制采取行动的冲动。

The Vrba-Wetzler report made its way to Allied capitals, the Vatican and the offices of Admiral Horthy, Hungary’s regent.

弗尔巴和韦茨勒的报告传到了盟国首都、梵蒂冈和匈牙利摄政王霍尔蒂海军上将的办公室。

In the summer of 1944, after entreaties from the pope and warnings of punishment from President Franklin Roosevelt, Horthy halted the deportations.

1944年夏天，在教皇的恳求和富兰克林·罗斯福总统的惩罚警告下，霍尔蒂停止了驱逐行动。

The 200,000 Jews of Budapest were safe—until the Hungarian Nazis, the Arrow Cross, took power in October, after which many perished.

布达佩斯的20万犹太人原本是安全的--直到匈牙利的纳粹组织“箭十字党”在10月份掌权，随后许多人丧生。

After the war Vrba trained as a biochemist and moved to Canada, forever raging against the Hungarian Jewish leadership’s failures.

战争结束后，弗尔巴受训成为了一名生物化学家，并移居加拿大，他一直对匈牙利犹太领导人的失败感到愤怒。

Mr Freedland’s vivid, compassionate book brings out the horror and tragedy of his experiences: the Nazis’ depravity, the caprices of death and survival, the toll of violence, exhaustion and incomprehension on the doomed deportees.

弗里德兰先生这本生动而富有同情心的书揭示了他经历的恐怖和悲剧：纳粹的邪恶，死亡和生存的反复无常，暴力的影响，精疲力竭和对注定要被驱逐出境的人的不理解。

An important addition to Holocaust historiography, it honours the memory of two brave and determined men who helped save some of the last Jews of Europe.

作为大屠杀史学的重要补充，这本书纪念两位勇敢而坚定的人，他们帮助拯救了欧洲最后一些犹太人的生命。