Brand's involvement in smuggling Jews into Hungary began in July 1941, when Hansi Brand's sister and brother-in-law, Lajos Stern, were caught up in the Kamianets-Podilskyi massacre. Because of the situation in Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, 15,000–35,000 Jews had fled to Hungary, registering with the National Central Alien Control Office. The Hungarian government expelled 18,000 of this group to German-occupied Ukraine, where on 27–28 August 1941, the SS and Ukrainian collaborators shot 14,000–16,000 of them. About 2,000 survived. Brand paid a Hungarian counter-espionage officer to bring his wife's relatives back safely. The Hungarian Interior Minister was reportedly shocked when he learned about the massacre, and the deportations were halted.