Аукцион Bidspirit | Buchenwald - Special Album Published

Buchenwald - Special Album Published on the Occasion of the Dedication of the Camp Memorial by the State Publishing House. East Germany, 1959 - First Edition - Signed copy by Arnold Zweig - Buchenwald. An important album published in East Germany in 1959 by the state publishing house Kongress-Verlag Berlin as part of the official commemorative project of the Buchenwald concentration camp and the establishment of the East German National Memorial Site on its grounds. English, Russian, French, and German - an edition intended for international distribution. Signed copy by Arnold Zweig, who also wrote the introduction to the album The album presents a distinctly East German (anti-fascist and socialist) ideological perspective calling for the remembrance of the atrocities of Buchenwald. It combines testimonies, speeches delivered on the occasion of the dedication of the memorial, historical documents, and harsh photographs from the years of the camp's operation and from the time of its liberation, alongside documentation of the construction of the extensive memorial site on the Ettersberg. ”To those who gave their best and their lives, we have erected this memorial and commemorative site here in the heart of Germany, upon blood-soaked soil, for all eternity. This monument is not lifeless stone. It shall proclaim to future generations the enduring glory of the courageous struggle against tyrants, for peace, freedom, and human dignity. Through it, we wish to redeem the name of Germany, which was disgraced before the world by Hitlerite fascism.” (from the introduction) The album opens with an excerpt from the speech delivered by Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl on the occasion of the dedication of the memorial and museum on September 14, 1958. It also includes remarks by former Buchenwald prisoner Herbert Sandberg - prisoner no. 3491 - and by other prominent figures who spoke on that day, focusing primarily on the importance of preserving for future generations the memory of the hell endured by those who perished in the camp. Among them are remarks by Arnold Zweig, who warned against manifestations of fascism (Zweig was among the most outspoken Jewish German voices in condemning fascism. After fleeing Germany, he decided in the late 1940s to return and resettle in East Berlin, where he later died). The album also includes a poem by Johannes R. Becher, the prominent Communist poet and politician who, among other things, wrote the lyrics of East Germany's national anthem. The poem calls for active remembrance: ”A memorial takes many forms, imploring us, awakening us from forgetfulness - the dead warn us: Think of Buchenwald!”. In the second part of the album - the photographic section - there are large full-page photographs documenting the atrocities of the camp: prisoners lying in the wooden barracks (”Of the many barracks. In each of them, between 1,500 and 2,000 prisoners collapsed during the final months of the reign of terror and violence. In the last months before the end of Hitler's terror, each of these barracks housed between 1,500 and 2,000 prisoners”); the camp's electrified barbed-wire fence; the mummified head of a murdered prisoner as it stood upon the camp commandant's desk; human bones in the crematorium; the bodies of victims who died during the Death Marches in the final months of the camp's existence; photographs of ceremonies held at the camp after liberation; the memorial from various angles; and many more. The graphic design of the cover depicts the Buchenwald Memorial Tower, inaugurated in 1958, crowned by a stylized flame - a symbol commemorating the resistance and the victims of the camp. Arnold Zweig (1887–1968) was a prominent German-Jewish novelist, playwright, and peace activist of the twentieth century. From an early age, he was drawn to both socialism and Zionism, and as a German patriot he volunteered for service in the Imperial German Army during the First World War. In April 1933, following the Nazi rise to power in Germany, Zweig was expelled from the Association of German Writers. The following month, in May 1933, his books were burned during the infamous Nazi book burnings. In early 1934, the Nazi authorities confiscated his property in Germany and issued a warrant for his arrest. Zweig immigrated to Eretz Israel and lived in Haifa for approximately fifteen years. However, his separation from the German language and culture, combined with financial hardship and his pacifist worldview - which was increasingly at odds with the dominant currents of Zionist thought - led him to decide to leave the country by the end of the 1930s. In 1948, following an official invitation from the Communist authorities, he relocated to the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany, which later became East Germany. There he emerged as one of the country's leading intellectuals and also served as a member of parliament. Between 1950 and 1953, he was President of the Academy of Arts of East Germany. In 1958,