Babylonian Talmud - Munich, 1948 - Complete Set

Babylonian Talmud - complete set. Munich-Heidelberg, 1948. "Published by the Union of Rabbis in the American Occupation Zone in Germany".
After WWII, the demand for Talmud and holy books by surviving Jews congregated in the DP camps exceeded the few copies that were available for the refugees. From 1946, the "Union of Rabbis" in Germany, with the assistance of the American army and the JDC began to print the Talmud for survivors. At first, only a few tractates were printed in various formats. In 1948, the present edition - a complete edition of the Talmud - was printed for the first time. Each volume contains two title pages. The first title page was especially designed to commemorate the printing of the Talmud on the scorched soil of Germany; on the upper part is an illustration of a Jewish town with the caption "From slavery to redemption and from darkness to great light"; on the lower part of the title page is an illustration of barbed wire fences and a labor camp, with the captions: "Labor camp in Germany during Nazi era", "They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts" (Psalms 119).
19 volumes. 39 cm. Some brittle leaves. Overall good condition. Some stains. A few tears. Tear to illustrated title page of Tractate Sanhedrin, slightly affecting illustration. Lacking title pages of Tractates Rosh Hashana and Nedarim. Signatures. With original bindings. The spines were rebound, incorporating parts of the original binding. In two volumes, the spines were replaced with new spines.