Ukrainian emigre book "Auschwitz" by Palladij Osynka

Description: Paperback. Condition: Good+ (see images). 15 color illustrations, 8 x 5.75", pict wraps, 8pp of text in Ukrainian and English + plates, a worn and toned, disbound copy with staining on front cover, edge-tears, soiling, possibly missing rear cover, all pages loose. SWAF. Front cover illus. shows two prisoners pulling a large roller at Auschwitz.Munich: Hanns Lindner, 1946. Small octavo. Original illustrated wrappers; 8 pp. text preceding 16 color illustrations. Minor wear along spine, overall very good. The first and only edition published of these powerful and grim stylized concentration camp drawings. An 8-page prefatory text in Ukrainian Cyrillic and English introduces the drawings. Captioned in Ukrainian and English, the illustrations provide a first-person perspective of various horrific events within the camps and the forms of punishment received. Osynka records guard brutality, prisoners stealing animal feed to prevent starvation, and the gas chambers. "Interspersed among these images are less dramatic scenes of life in the camps, including rare moments of happiness. The self-consciously naïve, cartoonlike style . [produces] a grotesque effect" (Anna Holian, Displaced Persons in Postwar Germany, p. 218). Curiously, the work also conflates the experience of Jews and strictly political prisoners. The book concludes with a glossary of special concentration term "slang." It was published by and for Ukrainian Displaced Persons (DP), stateless refugees in post-war Germany. Such books, which included original works, political manifestos, and eyewitness accounts of WWII, were printed in very small print runs and on highly brittle paper. They were issued under very difficult conditions, despite a lack of material resources, paper, and strict military censorship rules. From the preface: "The sketches of this life drawn in form of cartoons by the bed-fellows of the author may serve as a reward for those who survived this inferno in the earth. On the other part they may serve for every Ukrainian and for strangers as a document of the fight of Ukrainian people for their higher ideals." A graphic and wrenching visual work.

Price: 750 CAD

Location: Etobicoke, Ontario

End Time: 2025-02-06T00:02:50.000Z

Shipping Cost: 17.33 CAD