Lot 762
(1880-1968) American author, political activist, and lecturer; the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree. Typed letter signed, 2 pages, on printed personal stationery, 10½ x 7¼ in., Arcan Ridge, Westport, Conn., Jan. 15, 1943. Some creasing and soiling. To Ruth Posen, thanking her for a "touching Christmas Remembrance" and apologizing for her delay in responding because of urgent duties. In part: "…I am waiting for a hurry-up call to do legislative work for the blind of Tennessee. However, another day shall not go by without my telling you how moved I was that you should let me read your brother's marvellous letter, a kaleidescope of life stranger than fiction. I have had it transcribed into Braille to keep among my most inspiring mementos of this supreme Day of the Lord. It is a sacred experience for me to share even indirectly your long anxiety and struggle to save your brother and joy in his final release. As I read his narrative, flames of anger leaped up in me against the inhumanity from which he had suffered. Yet how well I understood his big feeling that he would not have missed that ordeal, hideous as it was, since he had witnessed heroic manhood and unbreakable faith 'down there' in those realms of Styx. His courage to sing and to resist brought back to me Wordsworth's lines addressed to Toussaint l'Ouverture, 'Thou hast great allies, agonies, exultations, and love and man's unconquerable mind.' Then I became highstrung at the end when he declared that he would again jump down into that hellish misery 'and take a gun anew.' May God's Blessing gird him with might to break new trails to freedom for the oppressed as did the Hebrews of old, is my fervent wish….Your belief in my message will encourage in mments when I may be at a loss how to comfort others that survive these years of shipwreck and disillusionment….Reciprocating your love, and hoping that life may be gentler to you and your dear ones durig 1943, I am, Sincerely your friend, Helen Keller."
Ruth Posen was a Jewish woman who had family in Europe. She had read Hellen Keller's book, The Story of My Life (published in 1904) and was deeply inspired by her. The two women began to correspond. As the rise of Nazism spread through Europe, Ruth Posen worked to save her brother and bring him to the United States. After successfully making it to the United States, her brother wrote an account of his ordeal and the atrocities he witnessed. Ruth Posen sent a copy of it to Helen Keller. As Helen Keller writes, she was very moved and had the letter transcribed into Braille.
This is a very rare letter in which Helen Keller expresses her outrage at what the Nazis are doing. THIS IS IN 1943!
The Helen Keller Papers are at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute For Advanced Studies. In her papers are the letters that Ruth Posen wrote to her.
Estimated Value $3,000 - 4,000.
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