Bidspirit auction | ”Dachau: A World Without G-d”

”Dachau: A World Without G-d” - By the former prisoner Father Sales Hess. Nuremberg, 1946 - First - Dachau: eine Welt ohne Gott - Dachau: A World Without G-d, by the Catholic priest Father Dr. Sales Hess. Sebaldus-Verlag, Nuremberg, 1946 - First edition. ”Published under Information Control License of the Military Government US-E-112.” German. Extremely rare. Father Sales Hess was a German Benedictine monk from the Abbey of Münsterschwarzach, which was confiscated by the Gestapo in May 1941. Because of his opposition to the Nazi regime and his sermons, he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the Dachau concentration camp in 1941. The book constitutes one of the earliest printed testimonies published in Germany concerning the atrocities that took place within the concentration camps. Hess survived nearly four years in the camp's famous ”Priests' Block” (Pfarrerblock) - the section in which the Nazis concentrated thousands of Christian clergymen (primarily Catholics from Poland and Germany) who refused to cooperate with Nazi ideology. Upon arriving at Dachau, his clothes were exchanged for a prisoner's uniform. He describes the humiliating event: ”After the bath, we received prisoners' clothing (blue shirts and undergarments) and the 'zebra clothes.' I felt terrible. The shirt was far too short, and the trousers and jacket were much too tight. I dared to point this out to the prisoner on duty. The trousers and jacket were at least ten centimeters too small. 'It doesn't matter! Everything is too tight for these fat priests. In a year, everything will fit...'”. Shortly thereafter, he stood at roll call and heard the words of the block elder: ”Do not deceive yourselves! Many arrive with false hopes: surely I shall be released in a few weeks. I have done nothing terrible! Most never leave here alive! Dachau is a human mill of death. Fate takes some sooner and others later. In the end, everyone's turn comes. Most are released through the chimney. Do not let empty hope deceive you!...”. In his book, Father Hess describes in great detail the exhausting daily life, the severe hunger - Hess testifies that in Block 26, where he stayed during part of June and July 1942, at least one prisoner died of starvation every day - the forced labor, and the abuses committed by the SS personnel in the camp. He also recounts the system of cruel medical experiments carried out on prisoners and clergymen, the relationships among the prisoners themselves in their struggle to survive, and more. He was liberated with the liberation of the camp by the American Army in April 1945. The book is illustrated with plates of harsh photos documenting severe abuse of prisoners, the bodies of victims, prisoners placing a corpse into the crematorium, and more. Extremely rare. Not recorded in the WorldCat global library catalogue. 6, 259, [1] pages. Printed on plain paper owing to the paper shortage in the aftermath of the war. Very good condition.