Jewish Brigade and Displaced Persons Camps – Two Diaries Written by Hand and Collection of Items of a Brigade ...

Jewish Brigade and Displaced Persons Camps – Two Diaries Written by Hand and Collection of Items of a Brigade Soldier, 1942-1945
Two handwritten diaries and a collection of items that belonged to the Jewish Brigade soldier Aharon Laser, soldier in the 1st Palestine Light Anti-Aircraft Battery [202 Field Artillery Regiment]. Cyprus, Italy, Germany and other locations in Europe, ca. 1942-1945. French and Hebrew.
1-2. Two war diaries, written by hand in lined notebooks, from 27.5.44 through 11.12.45, documenting the last months of war in liberated Europe.
"The circumstance 3 months after liberation… I saw how they lived as slaves… those who were sentenced to death… Jews had no contact with the Jewish world or with Palestine. I am witnessing the liberated children and the camps of liberated people; I believe I should use expressions… and say that the Allies did not have any compassion towards the liberated"; "since my first meeting with the rest of German children… I turn to you as a Jew… liberated from a concentration camp, a man of conscience…".
Among other things, mentioned in the diaries are: the battle on the Senio River (where the author's friend M.G., as he is referred to in the diary, lost his life): encounters with camps survivors; a week's sojourn in Mittenwald Displace Persons Camp with the American forces, and the problematic attitude of the liberation forces toward the displaced people; efforts of the Jewish Brigade people to assist the displaced to go to Palestine; and more.
The diaries are written hastily in a very dense handwriting, almost illegible, with no chronological order, with many corrections and deletions. In one of the notebooks appears a rewritten draft of previous chapters.
The diaries have not been completely deciphered.
Two notebooks. About 95 written pages, approx. 21 cm. Fair-poor condition. Detached or partly detached covers. Leaves are partly detached. Creases, fading and stains. Some leaves fastened with adhesive tape.
3. Aliya! Broadside issued by "HaShomer HaTza'ir", calling to open the gates of Israel for the refugees. [Europe, 1945?]. French.
Leaf, 27 cm. Fair-good condition. Folding marks, some stains and tears at margins, fastened with adhesive tape.
4. Member card – mutual aid and savings fund of the 1st Palestine Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, in the name of Aharon Laser, signed by him and dated 15.10.42.
12 cm. Good-fair condition. Slight stains and damage.
5. Group-photo of Brigade soldiers, probably in a tent camp in Europe.
13X8 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, slight creases and tears.