Bidspirit auction | Early Booklet of Harrowing Photographs

Early Booklet of Harrowing Photographs from the Death Camps – Paris, 1945 - OBJECTIF (“Lens” / “Objective”) – BÜCHENWALD, LANDSBERG, NORDHAUSEN, DACHAU, BELSEN, Ohrdruf, Leipzig-Ehla, Gardelegen – Buchenwald, Landsberg, Nordhausen, Dachau, Belsen, Ohrdruf, Leipzig-Ehla, and Gardelegen – an early booklet containing harrowing photographs documenting horrific scenes in the death camps at the time of their liberation by the Allied forces. Published by the Comité de Libération des Reporters Photos de Presse (“Liberation Committee of Press Photographers”) – the photographic organization whose photographers were present at the camps at the time of liberation. Paris, 1945. Extremely rare. A harrowing booklet containing 50 disturbing photographs from the death camps at the time of their liberation, as captured by Allied photographers. An early visual exposure of the horrific scenes encountered by the Allies in eight different camps in Germany. An uncensored booklet containing graphic and disturbing images. Text by Jeander; introduction by André Ulmann, himself a former prisoner of the Mauthausen concentration camp. This booklet is among the earliest albums of visual documentation published in France immediately following the liberation of the camps. Its purpose was to expose the general public in France and throughout Europe to the scale of the atrocities, war crimes, and the Nazi system of extermination. Each group of photographs in the booklet documents harrowing scenes from a different camp in Germany: Buchenwald, Landsberg, Nordhausen, Dachau, Belsen, Ohrdruf, and others. The photographs are reproduced as originally taken, without the later editing to which some were subjected in subsequent publications. Throughout the booklet one encounters both shocking images of the dead, revealing the immense scale of the destruction, and, immediately alongside them, survivors in horrifying physical condition, as well as the shock experienced by American soldiers upon confronting these scenes. Unlike publications issued at later stages, the photographs in the present booklet are described by the photographic agencies themselves, with the accompanying information based on accounts provided by the photographers who were present in the camps and witnessed the horrific scenes during the hours and days of liberation. Their captions describe events that occurred only minutes after the photographs were taken. Thus, for example, a photograph shows an emaciated elderly Jewish man attempting to raise himself from the ground, accompanied by the caption: “This prisoner died approximately 10 minutes after the photograph was taken.” Alongside another photograph showing prisoners walking on their own feet, the caption reads: “These prisoners are the only ones in the camp who managed to reach the Red Cross infirmary by themselves in order to receive first aid.” Another photograph, showing masses of prisoners crowded into a barracks, is captioned: “This is how more than one hundred people were found crowded into a barracks originally intended for thirty prisoners.” A further photograph depicts an emaciated, sick prisoner and is captioned: “A dysentery patient who has gone insane; his identity and personal details are unknown to us.” A shocking photograph showing burning logs upon which bodies had been burned bears the caption: “This pyre was still burning when the Americans entered the camp, ” and more. Extremely rare. Only three records appear in the WorldCat global library catalog: two in libraries in France and one at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 32 pages. 27 cm. Minor tears along the edges of the title page. Good condition.