[1] folio CCLIIII depicting the infamous blood libel in Trento, Italy. Hartmann Schedel.
In 1475, the body of two-year-old Simon Unverdorben was found in Trento on Jewish property. The local bishop ruled that the entire Jewish community was guilty of his death. All were imprisoned, tortured and some were even executed by being burned at the stake or burned alive. This picture depicts the so-called murderers of Simon, draining his blood.
1 thick leaf paper. 40×28 cm. Hand-painted at a later date. Fine-very fine condition.
Folio CCXX, woodcut depicting Jews taken to be burnt at the stake, apparently during the Rindfleisch Massacres in Franconia in 1298.
Over 4,000 Jews were murdered in these pogroms in the wake of blood libels.
1 leaf paper. 28×40 cm. Hand-painted at a later date. Fine-very fine condition.
“Pinkas HaNitzulim – list of Jews who survived in various countries in Europe … 60,000 names … published by the department for the search for relatives of the Jewish Agency in Palestine.” Section I.
The book presents names of survivors from concentration camps: Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Rantzwiller, Dachau and Allenburg; in addition to names of Jews from Rome, Milan and Sweden and a list of survivors from Holland and Czechoslovakia.
The book has great historic significance. The names are written in Latin letters, along with the survivor’s city of origin and age.
8, 360, VII pages. 22 cm. Original soft cover.
Yellowed pages. Fine-very fine condition.
Important documentation which includes dozens of rare photographs and facsimiles about the activity of the “Va’ad HaHatzalah” in Germany after the Holocaust. It was directed by Rabbi Natan Baruch and dealt with rehabilitation of the survivors in the camps in Germany. The report documents, among other things, support for the survivors and the establishment of kosher kitchens and yeshivahs. There are group photographs of study groups after the Holocaust, Talmudei Torah and orphanages. Includes a photograph of all the rabbis in the Committee, pictures and letters of Rabbi Herzog, as well as correspondence between the Committee and high ranking political figures. One of the important early books which extensively reviews the activities of the Va’ad Hatzalah, written at the time.
254 [8] pages, 29 cm. Very good condition. Original colorful cardboard binding.
Invitation by the Admor of Gur author of Imrei Emet to a conference of rabbis regarding the Holocaust, Jerusalem, [1943]
Background: At the beginning of World War II, true news about the annihilation machine in Europe did not reach the Land of Israel and America. It was only at the end summer of 1942 that the increasingly horrifying news from Europe reached them. Eyewitnesses recalling the details of the suffering supported the conjecture that the European Jewry was facing total destruction as well as the fact that the Nazis had an orderly diabolical plan to annihilate the Jewish nation and that it was being carried out daily. These reports reached various Jewish-American organizations by different ways and sources and they started being published in Jewish press. Due to the increase in the news, the nation was shocked from one end to the other and great fear for its persecuted brethren filled all their hearts. Subsequently, the leading rabbis of the generation, together with the various Jewish organizations, called for lamentation and prayers.
Already at the beginning of the winter of 1943, all the Jewish parties – from the Jewish Agency to Agudat Yisrael – met to discuss how to promote a day of worldwide outcry. At the meeting it was decided there was need for a worldwide day of fast. In New York, a committee of about six rabbis was chosen and in Jerusalem, a committee of fifty rabbis, members of the executive committee, was chosen to organize public prayers; the executive committee also decided to organize meetings with representatives of various countries and representatives of the Pope and the need to form a united front of the Jews of the land of Israel for rescue activities.
On the 13th of Kislev, the Agency made, for the first time, an official announcement about the systematic destruction of the Jews in Europe. In the HaAretz newspaper from the 14th of Kislev 1942, the publisher of the newspaper wrote: “The accredited news from the Nazi hell, which was published yesterday by the Jewish Agency, confirmed the worst fears. The threats of the German murderers, which Hitler and his assistants had made time and again, are becoming a shocking reality …”
The cooperation between the Chief Rabbinate and “Agudat Yisrael” was so tight that the crucial meeting took place on the 13th of Kislev 1942. In this meeting, the decision of the executive committee was to ask Rabbi Dushinsky and Rabbi Herzog to announce three days of mourning and prayer from the 20th to the 23rd of Kislev, and after them, a day of fasting with all the strictures of Yom Kippur. This meeting was highlighted in the press. A headline that appeared for two weeks on the first page of ‘Kol Yisrael’ proclaimed: “The National Conference of Agudat Yisrael Due To The Horrors And Persecution Of Our Brothers In Europe.” Every day, the newspaper published the activities and speeches at the conferences in Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem.
In the end, a national day of fasting was decided upon and all rabbis of the Land of Israel were invited to gather at the Churvah synagogue in Jerusalem. However, although all circles of the religious and Charedi communities in the Land of Israel and abroad took part, the leadership of Agudat Yisrael in Israel failed to bridge the rivalry between the old and new settlements and Rabbi Dushinsky decided that the day of fast would be on another day – Monday, the 21st of Kislev – with the reason known to his confidants and related to this item.
The members of Agudat Yisrael headed by Rabbi Dushinsky did not agree to the Chief Rabbinate inviting the rabbis to the day of fast in Jerusalem. Only after tiring negotiations did they agree to it that the Rebbe of Gur, being admired by both parties, will be the one who invites the rabbis. However, eventually, after some deceit, rabbis were invited also on behalf of Rabbi Herzog. When this became known to Rabbi Dushinsky, he decided on another day of fast and the whole city was in turmoil.
This item is living testimony to the background of the scandal that took place in the city in the midst of the cursed war.
Before us is an invitation on behalf of the Admor of Gur, an invitation on behalf of the Chief Rabbinate and the envelope in which both invitations were sent.
Very fine condition. Fold marks.
Three issues of Le Petit Journal from the height of the Dreyfus affair, 1895-1899. The issue was an illustrated supplement to the Parisian daily Le Petit Journal , among the sharp opponents of Alfred Dreyfus. The first and last page of each issue contained color illustrations depicting the affair’s events.
* Issue from January 13, 1895 with a front page depicting the most famous historic scene from the Dreyfus Affair – the public disgrace ritual – The breaking of the sword and stripping of Dreyfus’s rank after being convicted of treason – color illustration by illustrator Henri Meyer [1844-1899]. [Before the breaking of the sword, they marched him around the Ecole Militaire parade ground past units of the Paris garrison. The crowds shouted: “Death to the traitor! Kill him! Filthy Jew! Judas Iscariot!” Before the ceremony, the army broke Dreyfus’ sword to prevent mishaps during the public ceremony. At the end of the ceremony, he was taken to prison by the police where he sat until he was sent to Devil’s Island.
* Issue from January 20, 1895 with a front page illustration by Lionel Royer [1852-1926] depicting Dreyfus’s first day in prison after he was sentenced and convicted.
* Issue from August 20, 1899 with a front page color illustration depicting Dreyfus’s retrial leading up to his release, pardon and total exoneration.
Identical size: 30×44 cm. Except for a number of stains, overall fine-very fine condition.
Five issues of Le Petit Journal from the opening days of the Dreyfus affair. 1898-1899. Each issue was an illustrated supplement to the Parisian daily Le Petit Journal , which was among the sharp opponents of Alfred Dreyfus. On the first and last pages of each issue, there are color illustrations depicting the events of the affair.
* Issue from January 2, 1898. The cover page includes an illustration by Henri Meyer illustrating the initial court proceedings a number of days before the court found Esterhazy not guilty.
* Issue from February 12, 1899. Two days before the national assembly confirmed the law dictating that the court of appeals alone is authorized to decide on a retrial for Dreyfus.
* Issue from July 9, 1899. Prior to the Berne military trial in which Dreyfus was acquitted, he was found guilty of treason under extenuating circumstances and sentenced to ten years of imprisonment (which were later reduced to absolute acquittal).
* Issue from July, 16 1899. Progress in the trial towards Dreyfus’ pardon which actually occurred about two months later.
* Issue from September 24, 1899 three days after the issuance of the order by Minister of War Joffre: “The affair is over.”
Issues of identical size: 30×43 cm. Overall fine condition except for stains and slight tears in the margins of some of the issues, overall fine condition.
HORRIBLE ASSASSINAT DU PRESIDENT DE LA REPUBLIQUE SADI CARNOT AIR DU JUIF ERRANT [The terrible assassination of the President of the Republic Marie François Sadi Carnot caused by the wandering Jew]. France, late 19th century.
Marie François Sadi Carnot [1837-1894] was the President of France during the Third Republic and was murdered during his term of office. After serving in various public positions, he was chosen as President of France in 1887. During his time as President, France dealt with difficult crises which threatened to annul parliamentary rule and replace it with an authoritarian regime, the”Panama Scandal” affair in 1892 in which it was revealed that the Panama Canal company paid French politicians and others. The French media blamed the Jews for the crisis, emphasizing the role of the Jews in the affair who were interested parties. At the height of these crises in June 1894, after President Carnot finished a speech in Lyon he was stabbed by an Italian anarchist by the name of Sante Caserio and died of his wounds a few hours later.
The poster before us seems to have printed a short time after his assassination. It is essentially an elegy describing the plan of the assassination and its execution in great detail [with the assassin’s name Caserio Gibni appearing several times and highlighted in one of the verses], as well as the vacuum left behind and the heavy mourning for the death of the president of the Republic. The writer blames the ‘wandering Jew’ for the hard consequences for the French Republic without explaining their direct part in the murder . At the end of the elegy the writer added a verse in which he writes a brief biography of President Sadi Carnot.
Size: 40×28 cm. Stains. Folding marks.
Fine condition.
15 illustrated cards in color lithograph print which were distributed in Chocolat-Louit chocolate bars on the topic “The Wandering Jew.” France, late 19th-early 20th century.
The cards are elements of a story depicting “the wandering Jew” in various scenes. Each card has the caption “Le Juif Errant” and an illustration of a Jew in a beard and sidelocks. In all of them, the Jew appears strange and in an alien environment, each time surprised anew, while the other characters in the series are startled and frightened by his face. Under the picture, there are musical notes from various songs about “the wandering Jew.’ Words to the song are printed on the reverse. The cards were released in France in the last decade of the 19th century [including an early card from 1886] and in the early 20th century.
There are 15 cards in total, 11 from the Chocolat-Louit series [some are doubles], the rest from other chocolate series [Chocolat Vinay and more].
Identical size: 7×11 cm. Overall very fine condition.
Two early, rare anti-Semitic postcards mocking Jewish characteristics.
One depicts a Jewish diamond merchant with a wrinkled face and long red nose, mailed in 1899 [no divisional lines]. The second features a Jewish face with beard and sidelocks comprised of various nationalities [primarily Russian] that he “controls.” Along with the text “Gaudeamus Isidor.” Printed in Germany.
Identical size: 14×9 cm. Very fine condition.
Two rare antisemitic postcards telling a story and mocking the image of the beggar Jew, published by F. G. Henry & Co., New York, 1910.
The same figure appears on both postcards – a stereotypical Jewish beggar with a long nose and beard. In one, he reaches out his hand to beg for charity, with the inscription: “I wouldn’t do it.” In the second, the same figure is scratching his head and staring, with the inscription: “Believe me, I’m a sick man.” Sent in the mail in 1911.
Identical size: 9×14 cm. Very fine condition.
Two antisemitic illustrations by German caricaturist Eugen Karl Joseph von Baumgarten – ink on cardboard, both with his handwritten signature. C. 1900.
One shows an old Jew with long nose as a beggar at city gates, the second shows a long-nosed Jew stirring a pot and a person looking at him, observing with interest.
Baumgarten [1865-1919] was an artist and illustrator in the Bavaria region in the late 19th century and early 20th century. In 1891 he opened an art gallery which moved from place to place, ultimately settling in Munich. He drew caricatures for the local press and books, and also illustrated posters on various topics. Most of his work deals with internal German issues, and it is rare to find caricatures among his works with an antisemitic tone such as the two before us. Rare.
19×25 cm and 19×20 cm. Very fine condition
During WWI, a bullet was shot by a Russian soldier towards the heart of a Jew. The bullet hit the siddur this Jew carried with him, thus sparing his life. To commemorate this miraculous event, the family brought the siddur to a craftsman to create this lithographic print which displays the siddur showing the perforation made by the bullet. Austria, 1914.
“1914” appears in the upper part, the story is on the lower part, in German.
Source: A granddaughter of the protagonist’s family.
Size: 30×30 cm. Slight tears in the upper and lower margins, restored on the reverse with pasted paper. Fine condition.
Passe [Passport]. Jewish passport issued under the Gebiet des Oberbefehlshabers Ost [the German adminstration of Ober-Ost] on January 28 1917, with the ink-stamp ” Verwaltungsgebiet Litauen ” – the administrative region of Lithuania.
The passport was issued by the German authority in areas temporarily occupied during WWI [including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, and areas in Poland and Courland]. The sections are written in Yiddish and German. Among the regulations, there are sections which detail penalties of between five and ten years in prison for a person found without a passport, with a forged passport, etc. There are also penalties for a person who does not report loss of his passport within 24 hours. The passport contains a photograph of the photograph’s owner – an esteemed-looking Jew, and his fingerprint.
[4] leaves. 15 cm. Few stains. Fine condition.
Three souvenir postcards from the “Eternal Jew” [“Der Ewige Jude”] exhibition which took place in Munich and Vienna – 1938.
* Antisemitic postcard, souvenir from the antisemitic exhibition “Der Ewige Jude.” Vienna, 1938. [The Jew – the beggar-impersonator, gold in one hand, a whip in the other, and the USSR under his arm, depicted as the danger imperilling all of humanity]. “Der Ewige Jude” stamp on the reverse from the exhibition and German postage stamp from the Third Reich. Sent in the mail.
* Souvenir photograph postcard from the exhibition which took place in Vienna on 23/4/1938. The local amusement park in Vienna is depicted on the front. The reverse has the exhibition’s official stamp and the caption “Der Ewige Jude” and a postage stamp from the German Reich.
* Souvenir photograph postcard from the “Der Ewige Jude” exhibition which took place in Munich, from 28/4/1938. Konigsplatz mit propylaen is on the front of the postcard. The reverse has the exhibition’s official stamp with a swastika and another stamp with the caption “Der Ewige Jude.” Sent in the mail.
The three stamps are in very fine condition.
Passport for a Jew named Edgar Philin, a Hamburg native [b. 1908], marked with the letter “J” [Jew – Jude] according to the Nazi antisemitic racist laws. Edgar was saved from the Nazi claws, and after fleeing from the German region, he arrived in the United States.
The “J” was stamped by the Nazis in Warsaw only about two weeks after the Nazi law to stamp Jewish passports with the letter “J” took effect on 20/10/1938. [The law was enacted on October 5 of that same year.]
Edgar escaped from German territory in April 1939, fled to England and from there to the United States. Including stamps from the countries he passed through.
On October 5, 1938, in accordance with the Nuremburg laws whose goal was to identify and isolate the Jews, the Reich offices issued a law invalidating the Jews’ passports until they were marked with a “J.” Later, on January 1, 1939, the Nazis added a section which required the Jews with “non-Jewish” names to also add the name “Israel” or “Sarah.”
32 leaves. 16.5 cm. Very fine condition.
Pictorial Review – Va’ad Hatzala – Germany. New York, 1948
Specifications: 254 [4] pages, paper. 30 cm.
Important documentation with dozens of rare photographs and facsimiles about the activities of the Va’ad Hatzalah in Germany after the Holocaust, directed by Rabbi Natan Baruch. The Vaad Hatzalah helped rehabilitate the survivors in the camps in Germany. The report documents, inter alia, support for the survivors, the establishment of kosher kitchens, yeshivas, group photographs of study groups after the Holocaust, Talmud Torahs and orphanages. Includes a photograph of all the rabbis of the Vaad, pictures and letters of Rabbi Herzog, as well as correspondence between the Vaad and high ranking political figures. An early and important book that extensively reviews the activities of the Va’ad Hatzalah, written at the time.
Condition: Original colorful cardboard binding, stained. The body of the book is in fine condition.
Advertising brochure for the antisemitic propaganda film Der ewige Jude [ The Eternal Jew ] staged and filmed by the Nazis in Polish ghettoes immediately after the Nazi occupation in 1939.
The movie The Eternal Jew, with production personally supervised by Hitler and Goebbeles, was crucial to Nazi antisemitic incitement. The movie was designed to remove the “camouflage” from the face of the Jew and to portray him as the most deadly enemy of the Reich. The movie, which was filmed in the ghettoes of Poland, presented ‘the authentic Jew in his natural habitat’ – the filth, the wretchedness, the ugliness, the comparison to rats spreading pestilence, the cunning, the greed, the inherent laziness and xenophobia were presented to the ‘enlightened’ German viewer cloaked as a ‘documentary film’ documenting the alleged ‘truth about the Jews’ as appears in the title of this pamphlet: Ein Dokumentarfilm uber das Weltjudentum [ A Documentary about World Jewry ].
The recurring motif in the film is the complete identity of the subhuman Jew of the Polish ghetto with the Jew of Germany, familiar to the viewer under cover of of the ‘cultured German.’ As the film opens, the narrator warns: ‘The cultured Jew familiar to us in Germany only shows us a small part of the nature of his race. This movie presents true photographs of Polish ghettoes. It shows Jews as they truly are, before the they succeed in hiding behind the mask of the civilized European.’
For the purposes of this propaganda, as can be seen in the brochure before us as well, a group of Jews was photographed ‘before’ and ‘after.’ A smiling youth, shaven, bareheaded, dressed in a suit and tie, may be a benign and harmless neighbor. But this is merely misleading, as the truth is revealed in the authentic clothing and character of this same Jew when he wears a beard, a hat and a caftan.
Published for the ‘enlightened’ public, this pamphlet was meant to publicize the just-released film as much as possible – still photographs from the film showing Jews ‘before’ and ‘after,’ Jewish figures ‘caught’ in the ghetto, and a page-long antisemitic text explaining and accompanying the film, ‘revealing’ to the viewers the ‘truth’ about the Jews.
Literature: Redemption of Ahasuerus, The “Eternal Jew” in Nazi Film , New York, 1991.
[4] leaves, 23×30 cm. Very fine condition.
Avis aux Gestionnaires d’Estreprises Juives [Notification to managers of Jewish Businesses]. Poster regarding the tightening grip on managers of Jewish businesses on behalf of the German occupation forces. French. Versailles, 01.12.1940.
The poster opens with the legal definition of a Jewish-owned business. The order requires business managers who fit this definition on 18.10.1940 to report within 48 hours at most to the chamber of commerce. It was also established that violation of the order will lead to closure of the business.
In 1940, the German army invaded France, conquered broad parts of it, and defeated its army within six weeks. Following this, the Vichy regime was established in France’s “Free Zone,” which cooperated with the Germans politically and militarily, persecuted the Jews of France and assisted with the implementation of the Nazi program to destroy them. This poster was published with the establishment of the occupation regime and was intended to collect information about Jewish businesses in order to dispossess them of their property.
[1] leaf, paper, 58×41 cm. Quality print on quality paper.
Fold marks, a few tiny holes along the length of the fold mark, stains in the margins of the leaf. Fine condition.
Undzer Churban in Bild – Our Destruction in Pictures . Published by the Central Committee of the Liberated Jews in the British Zone. Bergen-Belsen. Published by אונדעזר שטימע. December, 1946.
Specifications: 38 leaves. 30×37 cm. Width is larger than length. Jacket title page.
Unique Features: The book includes 115 pictures from all stages of the Holocaust. Short caption in Yiddish, Hebrew, English and German for each picture. Publisher’s preface also in four languages. The jacket features a horrific picture of a women rolling in her blood with her young child next to her, pierced by a sword with a swastika. The walls of the camp, painted red, can be seen in the background.
Condition: Very fine condition, other than tears at the edges of the front cover and back binding and aging stains on the first leaf. Rare.
Poster obligating Jews to register at the census office during WWII, in preparation for their selection and the beginning of their destruction. French. Marseilles, France. 22.07.1941. Rare.
The poster begins by detailing the national laws that allow for the enforcement of this decree. The decree obligates all Jews to register at the municipal offices, to declare their status and fill out biographical questions or to send the form to the municipality by registered mail, no later than 31.07.1941. The previous forms that were filled out have been invalidated and do not exempt anyone from filling out the new form and submitting a biography. The form lists the Gendarmerie and the administrative units responsible for carrying out the present order.
In May 1940, Nazi German forces invaded France and occupied large sections of the country. They defeated the French army in just six weeks. This created the Vichy Regime in Southern France, in the “Free Zone.” This regime collaborated with the Germans, persecuted French Jewry and helped execute the Nazi plan to decimate them. This poster was publicized in Marseilles in Southern France, and was intended to collect information regarding the Jews so that plans could be made to destroy them, according to Nazi policy.
[1] leaf, paper. 59×41 cm. Quality print on quality paper.
Fold marks, stains in the margins of the leaf. Fine-very fine condition.
L’Zecher Tishim VeShalosh MiAchoteinu BaPolin, ” In Memory of 93 of Our Sisters in Poland,” whose chose a martyrs’ death over desecration. Published by HaVaad LaHagana Al Kavod Bat Yisrael (The Committee for the Daughter of Israel’s Defense) by the Chief Rabbinate of Tel Aviv and the District. Tel Aviv, Iyyar 1943.
Specifications : [2], 31 [3] pages, includes jacket cover page, 17 cm.
Background: Early publication chronicling the story of 93 Jewish girls from Beit Yaakov in Poland who preferred to die rather than be raped by German soldiers during the Holocaust. The beginning of the booklet contains a printed letter sent by Chaya Feldman, one of the girls, from the Krakow ghetto, where she writes the story. Includes articles, speeches and poems about the matter. The jacket cover’s back title page contains the prayer El Maleh Rachamim to “hundreds of thousands of Israel …” with details of the countries in which Jews were killed [apparently during that period, spring of 1943, the estimated number of those killed was in the hundreds of thousands].
Condition: Very fine. Creases in jacket cover.
Babylonian Talmud – “Munich Shas,” printed by survivors immediately after the Holocaust in Germany. Munich-Heidelberg, [1949]. Original bindings.
Specifications: Babylonian Talmud – complete set, 19 volumes. Based on the Vilna edition of the Talmud. Published by the Vaad Agudat HaRabbanim in the American Zone in Germany for refugees.
Background: During the destruction of European Jewry, Jewish libraries were destroyed throughout the continent. In their introduction, Rabbi Senig and Rabbi Rose emotionally describe the atrocities of the Nazis who took great pains to burn all the holy works: “It is embedded in our memories that bitter day, when the command was issued in the ghetto, from the evil Nazi government, to collect all the holy books in one location, so that they would be taken and destroyed, it was life-threatening to leave even one holy book.” The survivors initiated one of the most interesting and symbolic projects of the refugees in Germany: printing various works at improvised printing presses.
The masterpiece of this DP camp project was the printing of the entire Talmud. The Vaad Hatzalah of the Agudat HaRabbanim in the United States was drafted to assist with this project, headed by Rabbi Rose and Rabbi Shmuel Abba Senig. They assisted with the printing of the Babylonian Talmud with funding from the Joint and the assistance of the American Military government. The rabbis viewed this project as of first degree importance, as it enabled the study of gemara to return to its rightful place at the center of Jewish life. At first, one volume was printed with Tractates Nedarim and Kiddushin. In 1949, the entire Talmud was reprinted in 19 large volumes. This lot includes the complete set of this special edition Talmud. Only 600 sets were printed, and about 100 reached Israel.
Unique Features: This edition, called the “Munich Shas” or “The Survivors’ Shas” is characterized with colored title pages that were designed to mark the printing of the Talmud on the scorched lands of Germany, with illustrations of the Jewish villages in the Land of Israel and a labor camp surrounded by barbed wire, with the [Hebrew] texts, “labor camp in Germany during the Nazi reign,” and “You have almost destroyed me in the land, but I did not abandon your commands,” integrated with elements of redemption. The unique title page illustrations were made by artist G. Rosenkrantz, as he signed in the margins. This edition is a valuable collectible.
This set of Talmud belonged to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Kasher [1895-1983], a Gerrer chassid and rosh yeshiva who authored about 30 works on all elements of the Torah. He was the secretary of the Council of Torah Sages in Poland, a founder of the Sefat Emet yeshiva in Jerusalem and the head of the Torah Torah Shlema Institute. He won the Israel Prize for Torah Literature in 1963 and twice won the Rabbi Kook Prize for rabbinical literature (1944 and 1951). His grandsons include Professor Assa Kasher and Professor Rimon Kasher. His personal stamp appears a number of times in the volume with tractate Avodah Zarah, and the other volumes bear the stamp of the Torah Shlema Institute.
Condition: Very fine-excellent. All the bindings are originals, some are lightly scuffed. Loose back binding to one volume.
