KZ Mauthausen: Bild und Wort
Linz-Wien: IBIS Verlag, 1946. First edition. Softcover. Quarto. Unpaginated. 25 full page plates. Original illustrated tan wraps with red lettering on cover. Preface by Simon Wiesenthal, KZ Prisoner No. 127371, followed by transcripts of the confessions of Franz Ziereis, commander of Mauthausen, made on his deathbed, and 25 full page illustrations, drawings and collages, by Simon Wiesenthal in b/w offset reproductions with blank versos, most of them signed and dated in the work, starting with a self-portrait of Wiesenthal depicting himself as prisoner 127371.
All illustrations are preceded by a leaf with the title of the artwork printed on the front page and short texts on the verso describing the grim, often morbid realities of the various aspects of life in the concentration camp: "Jews in Mauthausen hardly ever were shot. They were destined for the "Wiener Graben (Vienna Ditch)." On a single day, March 31st, 1943, 1,000 Dutch Jews were thrown down from a height of 50 meters, all this in front of Heinrich Himmler. The SS called them parachutists. The "brown folk" amused itself."
Text in German. Wraps with light wear along edges but rubbed and some light creasing at corners. Light soiling on inside back cover and free endpaper. Sporadic minor foxing in lightly age-toned block and barley starting at second to last illustration. Wraps in overall good, interior in good+ to very good condition. g to vg. Item #40743
Price: $1,250.00