He's not pitting one against the other to make a political point, just insisting on the inconvenience of facts. Keeping one devil at bay means appeasing another and plunging into a whole new set of complications. By allowing that each system had its own distinct horrors, Furst invests even the most heroic actions with potentially terrible consequences. Furst's writing has grown more concise, more epigrammatic over the years. Scenes are now rendered with the brevity of stray thoughts passing through an observer's mind.
Nothing here is as it seems.
Nicholas Morath, the Hungarian cavalry officer hero, is ensconced in a job as an advertising agency executive. His real work is for his uncle, Count Janos Polanyi. Polanyi, a diplomat, is also the most elegant deal maker ever to grace one of Furst's novels, and possibly the most pragmatic. Working to save Hungary from Germany, Polanyi will bargain with whoever can help him, from anti-fascists to SS officers who want to topple Hitler for their own agenda. Nicholas is his uncle's legman, ferrying money, making contacts, even unwittingly providing safe passage for an assassin.