Bidspirit auction | The Stench of Nazism -

The Stench of Nazism - Exposing the Crimes of the Nazis on the Eastern Front in Real Time. London, [1943] - First edition - The Stench of Nazism - A contemporaneous exposure of the atrocities committed by the Nazis on the Eastern Front during the height of the war, published by the Communist Party of Great Britain. London, [1943] - First edition. Rare. A booklet documenting for the British public the extent of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union, intended to encourage British citizens to devote their full efforts to the war and strengthen their sense of solidarity with their Soviet ally in the East. The booklet opens with a moving farewell letter by Sergeant J. A. Clough, a 20-year-old British air gunner in the Royal Air Force (R.A.F.), who disappeared during an operational flight. In the letter, left for his parents in the event of his death, he urges his fellow countrymen to fight to their last drop of blood in order to keep their homeland free from the ”Stench of Nazism.” From this point, the booklet proceeds to describe directly and chillingly what that stench truly meant, presenting documentary testimony and newspaper reports from the Eastern Front. The reports focus on the catastrophic destruction and mass murder in the Russian city of Rzhev, which was occupied by the Germans for approximately 18 months before being liberated by the Red Army in March 1943. Of the city's pre-war population of approximately 65,000, only about one or two hundred survivors remained, while the rest were murdered, perished from starvation and disease, or were deported for forced labor. The texts in the booklet, including articles by journalists Paul Holt (of the Sunday Express), John Gibbons (of the Daily Worker), and others, document in harrowing detail the brutal murders of entire families, women, and young children in their homes, as well as the planting of mines in churches where civilians had been confined. Among the testimonies included is that of the Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop Nikolai, who denounces the Nazi crimes and describes the perpetrators as ”children of Satan.” The booklet concludes with a resolute political-patriotic appeal to the British public, warning that this is the fate awaiting every town and village unless fascism is completely eradicated, and calling upon every man and woman to support the soldiers at the front and to work tirelessly in factories and in the fields to ensure the total defeat of the Nazi regime. Rare. Only a few copies are recorded in the WorldCat global library catalog. 8 pages. Very good condition.