Majdanek. Za drutami zaglady
Majdanku: Panstwowego Muzeum, ND [ca 1945]. First edition. Softcover. 12mo (7 1/4 x 4 3/4"). 35, [1]pp. Original photo-illustrated wrappers. Frontispiece.
Early monograph on Majdanek, the infamous Nazi extermination camp established on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II.
Although initially purposed for forced labor rather than extermination, the camp was used to kill people on an industrial scale during Operation Reinhard, the German plan to murder all Jews within their own General Government territory of Poland.
The camp, which operated from October 1, 1941 until July 22, 1944, was captured nearly intact, because the rapid advance of the Soviet Red Army during Operation Bagration prevented the SS from destroying most of its infrastructure, but also due to ineptitude of commandant Anton Thernes who failed in his task of removing incriminating evidence of war crimes. Therefore, Majdanek became the first concentration camp discovered by Allied forces.
Also known to the SS as Konzentrationslager Lublin, Majdanek remains the best preserved Nazi concentration camp of the Holocaust.
Published by the State Museum of Majdanku (Majdanek in Polish), this work contains 22 in-text and full-page duo-tone photogravures depicting survivors among soldiers of the Red Army, personal photographs and identity cards of some of the victims, the gas chambers, Zyklon-B poison gas pellets, open-air mass graves, crematorium ovens, etc..
Some creasing and closed tears along spine. Previous owner's name and stamp dated 1947 at upper margin of front free endpaper. Pages slightly and evenly age-toned throughout. Text in Polish. Wrappers in overall good to good+, interior in very good condition. g to vg. Item #42297
Price: $1,250.00