Lot 297
Holocaust Collection. An enormous collection in sixteen binders, including some loose items, largely mounted and annotated in French and/or English, from an estate, with a stunning variety of ghettos, camps (including labor camps, transit camps and death camps), sub-camps, and political prisons represented. Items in the collection include perhaps the last communication from these victims of the Holocaust: formula letter sheets, concentration camp forms, parcel post vouchers for food and supplies, a few identity cards, and other historical documents. Also included are 20 photographs taken by General George Patton's US 3rd Army Engineers during their discovery and liberation of the death camps in 1945, as well as a pair of worn leather and wooden heeled, sandal-type shoes worn by a concentration camp survivor. Articles of clothing from concentration camps are very rare, as most were discarded after Liberation; camp shoes are virtually non-existent and missing in most museum collections. This unique collection of approximately 500 items absolutely should be seen in person to be fully appreciated.
The major camps all have individual albums: Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau, Flossenburg, Gross Rosen-Stutthof (known from Schindler's List), Hamburg-Neuengamme, Mauthausen-Gusen, Ravensbrück, and Sachsenhausen. Sub-camps include: Kutno, Korkiew, Kielsce, Kouskic, Bochnia, Belzyce, Preltin, Sterdyn, Bramsche, Anstetten, Linz, Nisko, Newsustrum, Molowitz, Lolositz, Angenberg, Hausstettler, Kaufbeuren, Schweidnitz, Hersburk, Leipzig, Schonholz, Ritschenwalde Riese, Muenster für Ostrow (the very first concentration camp and the first to use poison gas), Kepler Schule, Rastenburg (where von Stauffenberg attempted to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944), Chemnitz, Gemesechafs, Vienna, Wroclaw, Reichpost, Fuestenwalde, Newenkirchen, Rischtenwelde, Newmarkt, Hasel Horst, Pleskau, Pecka, Hradckralov, Mala Fatra, Biberach/Riss, Seltershot, Bellinia, Friedrichshafen, Kaufbeuren, Munich, Kottern, Augsburg, and Haunstetten (the last five were sub-camps of Dachau).
Ghettos from which correspondence is present include: Sterdyn, Frytzak, Flogow, Terora, Belchatow, Belzyce, Kosow, Izbica (Wieprz), Kielce, Chmieinik, Glusk, Bistrai, Bychawa, Boroszow, Brzezany, Bochnia, Bramsche Krynszcak, Crakow, Newmarkt, Kielce, Lemberg, Konskie, Lubartov, Kosow, Lemberg, Kopernick, Lublin, and Milejon.
A more detailed description of some of the items in this collection is available for those interested. It has been accurately described by Richard Friedemann, a survivor of seven concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau (see Introduction to Holocaust lots).
NOTE: See Lot 77 for a valuable collection of first and second issue stamps from the Litzmannstadt Ghetto .
Estimated Value $20,000 - 30,000.
Ex Rosedale Collection.
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