Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
Displaying 97 - 108 of 116
Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
December 2, 2015
Opening: $10,000
Unsold
Milon HaLashon HaIvrit Baz'man Haze, [Eliezer Ben-Yehuda]. [Hahashkafa Printing Press, Jerusalem, ca. 1900]. [First four parts, letters א-אין].
First edition, "Mahadura Kama", of the dictionary, printed in parts between the years 1900-1905, with corrections and additions for the third edition.
On the margins, Ben-Yehuda added, in his handwriting, numerous corrections and comments, changes and additions, in preparation for the printing of the third edition of the first part.
Most comments in the volume offered here are additions of references, sources, quotations and examples from Hebrew literature throughout the generations, as Ben-Yehuda used to do extensively in all of the dictionary's volumes. In addition appear corrections of Nikud (vowelization), shifts, deletions or other changes.
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858-1922) pioneer of Hebrew speech and the study of Hebrew; the driving spirit behind the revival of the Hebrew language. Ben-Yehuda spread his ideas through his newspaper, founded "Va'ad HaLashon" and composed the "Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Herbrew", which is considered his lifetime endeavor. The dictionary was published gradually during the years 1908-1959; the complete dictionary consists of sixteen volumes, with the addition of an introductory volume. The first five volumes were printed prior to World War I and were the only ones published before Ben-Yehuda's death. Ben-Yehuda did edit the sixth and seventh volumes prior to his death, and they were printed posthumously. The eighth and ninth volumes were edited by Moshe Tsvi Segal, while the remaining volumes, including the introduction, were edited by Naftali Hertz Torczyner (Tur-Sinai).
The fact the Ben-Yehuda's dictionary included many excerpts and examples from Jewish sources, as evident in the volume offered here, was criticized by many, including Bialik who claimed in his discourse "LeShe'elat HaTarbut HaIvrit" that "you can speak about Ben- Yehuda’s dictionary not as a dictionary consisting of 12 volumes but as a dictionary of three volumes only, since the scope is artificial and not necessary. Each word is accompanied by verses, not emphasizing the meaning but adding to the number of volumes” (Devarim She-beal-pe. A. Tel-Aviv, 1935, pp.108-109). Ben-Yehuda was aware of these accusations, and wrote in the introduction to the volume offered here: “I introduced proof for each and every meaning, wherever I believed that this sheds more light on this particular word and on the way that it is used, and I was not afraid that the reader would find one of the biblical, Talmudic or Midrashic examples redundant, as I believed that I would rather sin by adding than have the dictionary lack even once. This I did just like composers of important dictionaries in other languages”.
[4], 8-26; 168 pp, 26 cm. Fair-good condition. No title-wrappers. Stains to some leaves, some dark. Tears at margins of leaves; rough tears to last two leaves. Dry and fragile paper. Worn cardboard binding, torn and loose.
Exhibition: “Avnei Safa”. Beit Kaner. Municipal Art Gallery, Rishon LeZion, 2014.
Provenance:
1. Estate of Aryeh Leib Halevi Horowitz (1862-1906), scholar and Zionist activist, one of the first Hebrew teachers in Eretz Israel, one of the initiators of the Teachers’ Association in 1892, librarian in “Sha’arey Zion” library; a friend of Ben-Yehuda.
2. Estate of his son, Romamti Ezer Horowitz (1896-1925), secretary of Anglo-Palestine Bank in Jaffa and secretary of the Bank’s directors, Zalman David Levontin and Eliezer Hufien.
Literature: “Perakim Betoldot Hamilonut HaIvrit Hachadasha – Ma’amar Sheini: Milon Ben-Yehuda”, by Reuven Mirkin. In: Leshonenu, 54, (1990), pp. 311-323.
First edition, "Mahadura Kama", of the dictionary, printed in parts between the years 1900-1905, with corrections and additions for the third edition.
On the margins, Ben-Yehuda added, in his handwriting, numerous corrections and comments, changes and additions, in preparation for the printing of the third edition of the first part.
Most comments in the volume offered here are additions of references, sources, quotations and examples from Hebrew literature throughout the generations, as Ben-Yehuda used to do extensively in all of the dictionary's volumes. In addition appear corrections of Nikud (vowelization), shifts, deletions or other changes.
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858-1922) pioneer of Hebrew speech and the study of Hebrew; the driving spirit behind the revival of the Hebrew language. Ben-Yehuda spread his ideas through his newspaper, founded "Va'ad HaLashon" and composed the "Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Herbrew", which is considered his lifetime endeavor. The dictionary was published gradually during the years 1908-1959; the complete dictionary consists of sixteen volumes, with the addition of an introductory volume. The first five volumes were printed prior to World War I and were the only ones published before Ben-Yehuda's death. Ben-Yehuda did edit the sixth and seventh volumes prior to his death, and they were printed posthumously. The eighth and ninth volumes were edited by Moshe Tsvi Segal, while the remaining volumes, including the introduction, were edited by Naftali Hertz Torczyner (Tur-Sinai).
The fact the Ben-Yehuda's dictionary included many excerpts and examples from Jewish sources, as evident in the volume offered here, was criticized by many, including Bialik who claimed in his discourse "LeShe'elat HaTarbut HaIvrit" that "you can speak about Ben- Yehuda’s dictionary not as a dictionary consisting of 12 volumes but as a dictionary of three volumes only, since the scope is artificial and not necessary. Each word is accompanied by verses, not emphasizing the meaning but adding to the number of volumes” (Devarim She-beal-pe. A. Tel-Aviv, 1935, pp.108-109). Ben-Yehuda was aware of these accusations, and wrote in the introduction to the volume offered here: “I introduced proof for each and every meaning, wherever I believed that this sheds more light on this particular word and on the way that it is used, and I was not afraid that the reader would find one of the biblical, Talmudic or Midrashic examples redundant, as I believed that I would rather sin by adding than have the dictionary lack even once. This I did just like composers of important dictionaries in other languages”.
[4], 8-26; 168 pp, 26 cm. Fair-good condition. No title-wrappers. Stains to some leaves, some dark. Tears at margins of leaves; rough tears to last two leaves. Dry and fragile paper. Worn cardboard binding, torn and loose.
Exhibition: “Avnei Safa”. Beit Kaner. Municipal Art Gallery, Rishon LeZion, 2014.
Provenance:
1. Estate of Aryeh Leib Halevi Horowitz (1862-1906), scholar and Zionist activist, one of the first Hebrew teachers in Eretz Israel, one of the initiators of the Teachers’ Association in 1892, librarian in “Sha’arey Zion” library; a friend of Ben-Yehuda.
2. Estate of his son, Romamti Ezer Horowitz (1896-1925), secretary of Anglo-Palestine Bank in Jaffa and secretary of the Bank’s directors, Zalman David Levontin and Eliezer Hufien.
Literature: “Perakim Betoldot Hamilonut HaIvrit Hachadasha – Ma’amar Sheini: Milon Ben-Yehuda”, by Reuven Mirkin. In: Leshonenu, 54, (1990), pp. 311-323.
Category
Rare and Important Items
Catalogue
Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
December 2, 2015
Opening: $5,000
Sold for: $6,250
Including buyer's premium
72 postcards and letters, sent to the author and editor Ya'akov Cahan, by leading Jewish-Israeli authors and poets, between 1902 and 1951 (most of the letters are from the 1910s and 1920s).
Including: postcards from Haim Nachman Bialik (1907), three postcards from Zalman Shneour (1910), two postcards from Ya'akov Steinberg (1909), postcards from Yossef Haim Brenner (1908), letter from Nahum Sokolow, four postcards from Ya'akov Fichman (1910), a letter from David Frishman (1910), a letter and two postcards from Shaul Tchernichovsky (1928-1929), five postcards from Asher Barash (1910), a letter from Avraham Yossef Stybel (1910), a letter and two postcards from David Vogel (1936-1939), and a letter from Reuven Breinin (1894, to another recipient). The archive also contains letters and postcards from Max Brod, Ben-Ami, Gershon Shofman, Uri Zvi Greenberg, David Shimonovitch, S. Perlman, Yossef Klausner, Yitzchak Lamdan, Fishl Lachover (with whom he edited "HaTekufah"), Aharon Michal Borochov, Haim Hazaz, and other authors and poets.
These interesting letters focus on matters of literature, translation and editing, mostly concerning the literary periodicals that Cahan founded and edited.
Ya'akov Cahan (1881-1960) – poet, editor, playwright, translator, author and Hebrew linguist. His first poems were sent to "HaShilo'ach" (edited by Ahad Ha'am), but were rejected. Following the Kishinev pogrom, Cahan wrote the poem "Shir HaBiryonim" (Hebrew, Poem of Hooligans), which became the slogan of “Hashomer” and later a well-known Revisionist song. The first two of Cahan’s poetry anthologies, published in 1903 and 1905, cemented his status among young poets and Bialik, in his essay “Shirateinu Hatze’ira” (young poetry), mentioned him as one of the three prominent poets of the period (more esteemed than Steinberg and Shneour) and defined him as “the beautiful and gentle. Light…like silk and a morning breeze…”
Cahan edited the literary miscellanies “HaIvri HeChadash” (1912) and “HaOgen” (1917), and in 1918 he joined the Stybel Publishing House in Moscow. He later arrived in Warsaw where he edited the important literary quarterly “HaTekufah”; Cahan also edited “Knesset” in Warsaw and tried to found a Hebrew-National literary periodical named “Sneh” (one volume was published in 1929). At the same time he served as teacher of New Hebrew literature and medieval literature in “The Institute for Jewish Studies”. Cahan immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1934, retired from public (Revisionist) activities and was involved only in literature and culture; wrote poetry, children’s poems, stories, linguistic studies and nearly 30 plays; also translated from German, mainly Goethe and Heine. Won the Prize of Israel for Literature twice, in 1953 and in 1958.
Total of 72 items. Size and condition vary. Overall good condition.
Including: postcards from Haim Nachman Bialik (1907), three postcards from Zalman Shneour (1910), two postcards from Ya'akov Steinberg (1909), postcards from Yossef Haim Brenner (1908), letter from Nahum Sokolow, four postcards from Ya'akov Fichman (1910), a letter from David Frishman (1910), a letter and two postcards from Shaul Tchernichovsky (1928-1929), five postcards from Asher Barash (1910), a letter from Avraham Yossef Stybel (1910), a letter and two postcards from David Vogel (1936-1939), and a letter from Reuven Breinin (1894, to another recipient). The archive also contains letters and postcards from Max Brod, Ben-Ami, Gershon Shofman, Uri Zvi Greenberg, David Shimonovitch, S. Perlman, Yossef Klausner, Yitzchak Lamdan, Fishl Lachover (with whom he edited "HaTekufah"), Aharon Michal Borochov, Haim Hazaz, and other authors and poets.
These interesting letters focus on matters of literature, translation and editing, mostly concerning the literary periodicals that Cahan founded and edited.
Ya'akov Cahan (1881-1960) – poet, editor, playwright, translator, author and Hebrew linguist. His first poems were sent to "HaShilo'ach" (edited by Ahad Ha'am), but were rejected. Following the Kishinev pogrom, Cahan wrote the poem "Shir HaBiryonim" (Hebrew, Poem of Hooligans), which became the slogan of “Hashomer” and later a well-known Revisionist song. The first two of Cahan’s poetry anthologies, published in 1903 and 1905, cemented his status among young poets and Bialik, in his essay “Shirateinu Hatze’ira” (young poetry), mentioned him as one of the three prominent poets of the period (more esteemed than Steinberg and Shneour) and defined him as “the beautiful and gentle. Light…like silk and a morning breeze…”
Cahan edited the literary miscellanies “HaIvri HeChadash” (1912) and “HaOgen” (1917), and in 1918 he joined the Stybel Publishing House in Moscow. He later arrived in Warsaw where he edited the important literary quarterly “HaTekufah”; Cahan also edited “Knesset” in Warsaw and tried to found a Hebrew-National literary periodical named “Sneh” (one volume was published in 1929). At the same time he served as teacher of New Hebrew literature and medieval literature in “The Institute for Jewish Studies”. Cahan immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1934, retired from public (Revisionist) activities and was involved only in literature and culture; wrote poetry, children’s poems, stories, linguistic studies and nearly 30 plays; also translated from German, mainly Goethe and Heine. Won the Prize of Israel for Literature twice, in 1953 and in 1958.
Total of 72 items. Size and condition vary. Overall good condition.
Category
Rare and Important Items
Catalogue
Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
December 2, 2015
Opening: $20,000
Unsold
Collection of handwritten letters by David Ben-Gurion. Sent to Rega Klapholz in Vienna. Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Warsaw, Paris, Athens, Alexandria and other cities, ca.1932-1938. Hebrew and Yiddish.
An interesting collection of letters sent by David Ben-Gurion to Rega Klapholz, a student of medicine in Vienna, with whom Ben-Gurion had an affair in the first half of the 1930s.
The collection comprises nine telegrams and 38 letters handwritten by Ben-Gurion (five letters in Yiddish, the others in Hebrew). In his letters Ben-Gurion tells Klapholz how much he misses her, asks how she was, tells her about his planned trips, tries to set dates with her, and plans her immigration to Eretz Israel. Ben-Gurion wrote the first letters in Yiddish but soon switched to Hebrew and urged Klapholz to learn the language and write to him in Hebrew.
The letters reflect the close relationship which developed between the two during the years 1932-1935 and the intimacy between them which grew over time. One of the highlights of their relationship is evident in a letter dated September 1934, in which Ben-Gurion writes: "it is hard for me to accept the fact that I am in Europe – and so far from you. As much as you want me to come to Vienna – I even want it more. It seems that you still do not know how much 'the stupid little girl' is dear to me and how much I would like to see her and be with her… it would have been good if you were in Jerusalem – this might have been too good. It would have been easy to work during hard times and know that not far from here a dear girl is sitting where, for even a few minutes, you can rest and forget everything—and maybe when you come to the country – I will lose you altogether… it does not matter. I shall be able to love you anyway".
When Ben-Gurion wrote these letters, he was head of Mapai and one of the foremost leaders of the Jewish Yishuv in Eretz Israel. In many of these letters Ben-Gurion describes his activities during these years (he mentions, among other things, the Zionist Congress and Zionist meetings and conventions in London, Galicia, Warsaw and other places), and shares with Klapholz his achievements and his difficulties. More than once Ben-Gurion mentions his rivalry with Ze'ev Jabotinsky and the Revisionist Movement.
In a letter dated July 1933, Ben-Gurion writes: "We had a great meeting today in Warsaw – this was the answer to Jabotinsky's cry for blood… the meeting was very successful. There were no disturbances even though more than two thousand people attended. Some Hooligans outside tried to interfere – and were hit… In three days we will start to publish our daily paper 'Dos Vort', in which we will fight revisionism". Shortly afterwards he writes: "I am working very hard now, but it has been a long time since I felt that I have so much energy as in the war that I lead now, and which I believe is a crucial war which we will win. These days I am totally
involved with the daily paper which we publish, ‘Dos Vort’ – I am sending it to you separately – you cannot imagine with how much joy the paper was received by friends…”.
Ben-Gurion mentions, among other topics, the political situation in Austria in view of the ups and downs of the state authorities and the rise of Nazis in Germany. In a letter dated February 1933 he writes: “Dear beloved Rega, for the past three days my heart is with Vienna, with concern, sadness and love… and Vienna this time means: Vienna and also you… the Viennese workers revealed the shame of the German defeat – and what will happen?... my heart was with you all these days – even when I did not write – what did you feel – are you well and healthy? ... can you continue with your studies until you graduate? ... or maybe you should hurry up and come here?”. In another letter from 1933 Ben-Gurion asks Rega to send him Konrad Heiden’s book about the history of National-Socialism in Germany. In a letter dated December 1933 he writes: “how much longer will you stay in Vienna with no Nazis? Will the Austrian social-democracy succeed where the Germans failed? I doubt it. Dollfuss [Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss] will definitely not dare to do what Hitler did, but I doubt he will leave the workers in Vienna alone…”.
It was Yosef Baratz, one of the founders of Degania and emissary of the Histadrut in Vienna, who first introduced Rega to David Ben-Gurion in 1929, during the 16th Zionist Congress in Zurich. Klapholz was then 22 years old, a student in the Faculty of Medicine in Vienna, who came to the congress with her sister (she is also mentioned several times in the letters offered here) in order to meet the Zionist figures whom she admired. In 1932 she wrote to Ben-Gurion and invited him to meet her in Vienna; this is how the romance started. The affair lasted about four years during which they exchanged letters and met whenever possible.
The affair came to an end in 1935, when Klapholz was awarded her diploma, immigrated to Eretz Israel and started to work in Kupat Holim in Tel-Aviv. On July 9th, she visited Ben-Gurion, but she did not know that he still did not return to the country and only his wife, Pola, was home. Pola, who knew about the affair between her husband and Klapholz, avoided an open confrontation. Instead she gave her a souvenir through which she said all that there was to say – three photographs of her with Ben-Gurion on the shore of the Dead Sea. On the reverse she wrote a dedication: “to Rega – from Pola, 9.7.35”. [One of the letters offered here, in which Ben-Gurion invites Rega to meet him in Zurich, was written in 1938 and implies that the relationship between the two did not end entirely in 1935].
Rega (Regina) Klapholz (1907-2007) was born in Poland and moved with her family to Vienna when she was young. As an adolescent she was a member of the Jewish youth movement “Blau-Weiss”; later on she studied in the Vienna School of Medicine. During her studies she continued her Zionist activity and attended Zionist Congresses held in Europe. When she graduated, in 1935, she immigrated to Eretz Israel and worked as a physician in various places in the country. A few years later Klapholz married Avraham Diamant and they settled in Haifa. For additional information about Klapholz see enclosed material.
Lot of 47 items. Letters are handwritten on different papers, some on hotel stationery. One letter is written on official stationery of the Executive of the Zionist Organization. Most of the original envelopes in which the letters were sent are enclosed. Size varies. Overall good condition. Folding marks, stains and tears to some of the letters. · Enclosed are two books by Ben-Gurion, with handwritten dedication to Rega Klapholz:
1. Mima’amad LeAm, P’rakim leberur darka veye’uda shel Tenu’at HaPo’alim. [Hebrew: chapters examining the route and mission of the workers’ movement], Tel-Aviv: “Davar”, spring 1933. Dedication on title page: “to
Rega – from David”.
2. Anachnu Ushecheneinu [Hebrew: we and our neighbors]. Tel-Aviv: “Davar”, 1931. Dedication on title page: “To Rega with friendship from the author”.
For additional information about the relationship between David Ben-Gurion and Rega Klapholz, and about the correspondence between the two, see: Kin’at David, Life of David Ben-Gurion (Hebrew), by Shabtai Tevet. Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, Schocken, 1987. Vol. 3
An interesting collection of letters sent by David Ben-Gurion to Rega Klapholz, a student of medicine in Vienna, with whom Ben-Gurion had an affair in the first half of the 1930s.
The collection comprises nine telegrams and 38 letters handwritten by Ben-Gurion (five letters in Yiddish, the others in Hebrew). In his letters Ben-Gurion tells Klapholz how much he misses her, asks how she was, tells her about his planned trips, tries to set dates with her, and plans her immigration to Eretz Israel. Ben-Gurion wrote the first letters in Yiddish but soon switched to Hebrew and urged Klapholz to learn the language and write to him in Hebrew.
The letters reflect the close relationship which developed between the two during the years 1932-1935 and the intimacy between them which grew over time. One of the highlights of their relationship is evident in a letter dated September 1934, in which Ben-Gurion writes: "it is hard for me to accept the fact that I am in Europe – and so far from you. As much as you want me to come to Vienna – I even want it more. It seems that you still do not know how much 'the stupid little girl' is dear to me and how much I would like to see her and be with her… it would have been good if you were in Jerusalem – this might have been too good. It would have been easy to work during hard times and know that not far from here a dear girl is sitting where, for even a few minutes, you can rest and forget everything—and maybe when you come to the country – I will lose you altogether… it does not matter. I shall be able to love you anyway".
When Ben-Gurion wrote these letters, he was head of Mapai and one of the foremost leaders of the Jewish Yishuv in Eretz Israel. In many of these letters Ben-Gurion describes his activities during these years (he mentions, among other things, the Zionist Congress and Zionist meetings and conventions in London, Galicia, Warsaw and other places), and shares with Klapholz his achievements and his difficulties. More than once Ben-Gurion mentions his rivalry with Ze'ev Jabotinsky and the Revisionist Movement.
In a letter dated July 1933, Ben-Gurion writes: "We had a great meeting today in Warsaw – this was the answer to Jabotinsky's cry for blood… the meeting was very successful. There were no disturbances even though more than two thousand people attended. Some Hooligans outside tried to interfere – and were hit… In three days we will start to publish our daily paper 'Dos Vort', in which we will fight revisionism". Shortly afterwards he writes: "I am working very hard now, but it has been a long time since I felt that I have so much energy as in the war that I lead now, and which I believe is a crucial war which we will win. These days I am totally
involved with the daily paper which we publish, ‘Dos Vort’ – I am sending it to you separately – you cannot imagine with how much joy the paper was received by friends…”.
Ben-Gurion mentions, among other topics, the political situation in Austria in view of the ups and downs of the state authorities and the rise of Nazis in Germany. In a letter dated February 1933 he writes: “Dear beloved Rega, for the past three days my heart is with Vienna, with concern, sadness and love… and Vienna this time means: Vienna and also you… the Viennese workers revealed the shame of the German defeat – and what will happen?... my heart was with you all these days – even when I did not write – what did you feel – are you well and healthy? ... can you continue with your studies until you graduate? ... or maybe you should hurry up and come here?”. In another letter from 1933 Ben-Gurion asks Rega to send him Konrad Heiden’s book about the history of National-Socialism in Germany. In a letter dated December 1933 he writes: “how much longer will you stay in Vienna with no Nazis? Will the Austrian social-democracy succeed where the Germans failed? I doubt it. Dollfuss [Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss] will definitely not dare to do what Hitler did, but I doubt he will leave the workers in Vienna alone…”.
It was Yosef Baratz, one of the founders of Degania and emissary of the Histadrut in Vienna, who first introduced Rega to David Ben-Gurion in 1929, during the 16th Zionist Congress in Zurich. Klapholz was then 22 years old, a student in the Faculty of Medicine in Vienna, who came to the congress with her sister (she is also mentioned several times in the letters offered here) in order to meet the Zionist figures whom she admired. In 1932 she wrote to Ben-Gurion and invited him to meet her in Vienna; this is how the romance started. The affair lasted about four years during which they exchanged letters and met whenever possible.
The affair came to an end in 1935, when Klapholz was awarded her diploma, immigrated to Eretz Israel and started to work in Kupat Holim in Tel-Aviv. On July 9th, she visited Ben-Gurion, but she did not know that he still did not return to the country and only his wife, Pola, was home. Pola, who knew about the affair between her husband and Klapholz, avoided an open confrontation. Instead she gave her a souvenir through which she said all that there was to say – three photographs of her with Ben-Gurion on the shore of the Dead Sea. On the reverse she wrote a dedication: “to Rega – from Pola, 9.7.35”. [One of the letters offered here, in which Ben-Gurion invites Rega to meet him in Zurich, was written in 1938 and implies that the relationship between the two did not end entirely in 1935].
Rega (Regina) Klapholz (1907-2007) was born in Poland and moved with her family to Vienna when she was young. As an adolescent she was a member of the Jewish youth movement “Blau-Weiss”; later on she studied in the Vienna School of Medicine. During her studies she continued her Zionist activity and attended Zionist Congresses held in Europe. When she graduated, in 1935, she immigrated to Eretz Israel and worked as a physician in various places in the country. A few years later Klapholz married Avraham Diamant and they settled in Haifa. For additional information about Klapholz see enclosed material.
Lot of 47 items. Letters are handwritten on different papers, some on hotel stationery. One letter is written on official stationery of the Executive of the Zionist Organization. Most of the original envelopes in which the letters were sent are enclosed. Size varies. Overall good condition. Folding marks, stains and tears to some of the letters. · Enclosed are two books by Ben-Gurion, with handwritten dedication to Rega Klapholz:
1. Mima’amad LeAm, P’rakim leberur darka veye’uda shel Tenu’at HaPo’alim. [Hebrew: chapters examining the route and mission of the workers’ movement], Tel-Aviv: “Davar”, spring 1933. Dedication on title page: “to
Rega – from David”.
2. Anachnu Ushecheneinu [Hebrew: we and our neighbors]. Tel-Aviv: “Davar”, 1931. Dedication on title page: “To Rega with friendship from the author”.
For additional information about the relationship between David Ben-Gurion and Rega Klapholz, and about the correspondence between the two, see: Kin’at David, Life of David Ben-Gurion (Hebrew), by Shabtai Tevet. Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, Schocken, 1987. Vol. 3
Category
Rare and Important Items
Catalogue
Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
December 2, 2015
Opening: $3,000
Sold for: $7,500
Including buyer's premium
Draft of a public appeal, calling to support the foundation of a university and national library in Jerusalem, signed by Albert Einstein. Berlin, [1923]. German.
Typewritten on "Gesellschaft der Freunde der Jerusalem-bibliothek" [Society of Friends of the Jerusalem Library] letterhead, with several corrections (probably not by Einstein), signed by Albert Einstein: "A. Einstein".
"Building a Jewish new Eretz Israel is not just a materialistic enterprise. Just as the body of the Jewish people needs a new homeland, so does the soul. When a spiritual center is founded in the ancient historic homeland, it will stop floating in the universe… the highlight of this cultural enterprise and its solid base is the establishment of a Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The construction of the University has just started. A scientific library is a necessary... Whoever is interested in a university, should assist in establishing a library. […] Now is the right time to link between the establishment of the library and the construction of the university. The library has to be built immediately! […] Whoever wishes to build a university and homeland for the Jewish soul – cannot evade the obligation to take part in establishing a university and national library in Jerusalem".
The "Public Appeal" was phrased during the establishment of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. As is understood from this document, Einstein served as vice-chairman of the "Gesellschaft der Freunde der Jerusalem-bibliothek", the chairman being Dr. Gustav Bradt. Einstein's contribution to this society (founded in December 1922) included his decision (in 1925), to donate three quarters of his library to the national library and transfer more than one thousand of his books to Jerusalem. Einstein also donated to the library forty-five leaves of the "General Theory of Relativity" manuscript.
Prof. Heinrich Loewe enlisted Einstein's support of establishing a library in Jerusalem: in a letter sent by Loewe to Einstein in September 1922 (no. 36.918 in Einstein's Archive in the NLI,) Loewe wrote: "May I refer to you two requests. For the library we have to realize now the idea of founding the "Gesellschaft der Freunde der Jerusalem-bibliothek" (Society of Friends of the Jerusalem Library) and for that we need your name as a committee member […] We kindly ask you to agree to the use of your acclaimed name and sign a public appeal, once it has been submitted to Weizmann for signature. I attach for this purpose the suggested version and kindly ask you to sign it".
[1] leaf, 29 cm. Good condition. Stains at margins. Folding marks.
Literature: Raphael Weiser, "Kol Koreh…" (Hebrew: Public appeal to support the establishment of a University and National Library in Jerusalem signed by Albert Einstein). In: "Al Sefarim ve-Anashim", no. 5. 1993.
Typewritten on "Gesellschaft der Freunde der Jerusalem-bibliothek" [Society of Friends of the Jerusalem Library] letterhead, with several corrections (probably not by Einstein), signed by Albert Einstein: "A. Einstein".
"Building a Jewish new Eretz Israel is not just a materialistic enterprise. Just as the body of the Jewish people needs a new homeland, so does the soul. When a spiritual center is founded in the ancient historic homeland, it will stop floating in the universe… the highlight of this cultural enterprise and its solid base is the establishment of a Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The construction of the University has just started. A scientific library is a necessary... Whoever is interested in a university, should assist in establishing a library. […] Now is the right time to link between the establishment of the library and the construction of the university. The library has to be built immediately! […] Whoever wishes to build a university and homeland for the Jewish soul – cannot evade the obligation to take part in establishing a university and national library in Jerusalem".
The "Public Appeal" was phrased during the establishment of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. As is understood from this document, Einstein served as vice-chairman of the "Gesellschaft der Freunde der Jerusalem-bibliothek", the chairman being Dr. Gustav Bradt. Einstein's contribution to this society (founded in December 1922) included his decision (in 1925), to donate three quarters of his library to the national library and transfer more than one thousand of his books to Jerusalem. Einstein also donated to the library forty-five leaves of the "General Theory of Relativity" manuscript.
Prof. Heinrich Loewe enlisted Einstein's support of establishing a library in Jerusalem: in a letter sent by Loewe to Einstein in September 1922 (no. 36.918 in Einstein's Archive in the NLI,) Loewe wrote: "May I refer to you two requests. For the library we have to realize now the idea of founding the "Gesellschaft der Freunde der Jerusalem-bibliothek" (Society of Friends of the Jerusalem Library) and for that we need your name as a committee member […] We kindly ask you to agree to the use of your acclaimed name and sign a public appeal, once it has been submitted to Weizmann for signature. I attach for this purpose the suggested version and kindly ask you to sign it".
[1] leaf, 29 cm. Good condition. Stains at margins. Folding marks.
Literature: Raphael Weiser, "Kol Koreh…" (Hebrew: Public appeal to support the establishment of a University and National Library in Jerusalem signed by Albert Einstein). In: "Al Sefarim ve-Anashim", no. 5. 1993.
Category
Rare and Important Items
Catalogue
Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
December 2, 2015
Opening: $4,000
Sold for: $7,500
Including buyer's premium
Handwritten letter by Albert Einstein and his wife (signed by both). Addressed to Mrs. Hertha Gutenberg [wife of seismologist Beno Gutenberg, Einstein’s friend]. Princeton (New Jersey, USA), January 12, 1934. German.
Handwritten letter, signed, by Elsa Einstein, to Mrs. Gutenberg. Below her signature Albert Einstein added a letter (12 lines) in his handwriting: “Much has happened since we last met. Whoever is not directly affected, will only read about it [the situation in Germany] in the newspaper while having coffee…”. Einstein then congratulates Mrs. Gutenberg and her family and signs: “A. Einstein”. Below his signature Einstein added: “in letters to Germany, this signature will send the recipient of the letter to a concentration camp”.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), a Jewish physicist, one of the most influential physicists in the 20th century, who developed the General Theory of Relativity and laid the foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Jews were isolated and expelled from German society. The new German government had passed anti-Semitic laws barring Jews from holding any official positions, (including teaching at universities). The Nazis also persecuted Jewish physicists; rejecting and labeling Einstein’s Theory of Relativity as “Jewish Physics”. When Hitler rose to power, Einstein was on a lecture tour abroad. In view of the situation, he decided to give up his German citizenship, and after a short period, settled in the United States where he was offered a position at the Institute for Advanced Studied in Princeton, New Jersey. Einstein lived in Princeton until he passed away on April 18, 1955.
[4] written pages (a leaf folded into two), 21 cm. Good condition. Folding marks, some stains.
Enclosed is the original envelope used for sending the letter.
Handwritten letter, signed, by Elsa Einstein, to Mrs. Gutenberg. Below her signature Albert Einstein added a letter (12 lines) in his handwriting: “Much has happened since we last met. Whoever is not directly affected, will only read about it [the situation in Germany] in the newspaper while having coffee…”. Einstein then congratulates Mrs. Gutenberg and her family and signs: “A. Einstein”. Below his signature Einstein added: “in letters to Germany, this signature will send the recipient of the letter to a concentration camp”.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), a Jewish physicist, one of the most influential physicists in the 20th century, who developed the General Theory of Relativity and laid the foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Jews were isolated and expelled from German society. The new German government had passed anti-Semitic laws barring Jews from holding any official positions, (including teaching at universities). The Nazis also persecuted Jewish physicists; rejecting and labeling Einstein’s Theory of Relativity as “Jewish Physics”. When Hitler rose to power, Einstein was on a lecture tour abroad. In view of the situation, he decided to give up his German citizenship, and after a short period, settled in the United States where he was offered a position at the Institute for Advanced Studied in Princeton, New Jersey. Einstein lived in Princeton until he passed away on April 18, 1955.
[4] written pages (a leaf folded into two), 21 cm. Good condition. Folding marks, some stains.
Enclosed is the original envelope used for sending the letter.
Category
Rare and Important Items
Catalogue
Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
December 2, 2015
Opening: $2,000
Sold for: $2,500
Including buyer's premium
Ware Beschreibung der Juden Tugent und wolthaten gegen den Christen so ein guter Freund dem andern zur warnung von ihnen, zuschreibet [Jews and their good deeds against Christians…]. [Prague, last quarter of 16th century]. German.
An early composition about Jews. An anti-Semitic woodcut appears on the title page (Der Gelb Geckl, German – "Yellow Fop") portraying a Jew, wearing a long cloak with a round badge of identification, and a fur hat. In one hand the Jew holds a money bag, and in the other hand a walking stick (the image is similar to that of the "Eternal Jew").
A similar booklet is listed in Worldcat (dated 1581) attributed to Johannes Folk. In the booklet offered here, the name Jobst Mellern is printed next to the image of the Jew (it may be the name of the author or the publisher).
[22] pp, 18 cm. Good-fair condition. Dark paper, stains, creases and some damages at margins of leaves. Tears and an erased ink stamp on title page. Lower margins are chopped. Old paper wrapper, spine fastened with adhesive tape. Several inscriptions in pen within the booklet.
Rubens, A Jewish Iconography, no. 2131.
An early composition about Jews. An anti-Semitic woodcut appears on the title page (Der Gelb Geckl, German – "Yellow Fop") portraying a Jew, wearing a long cloak with a round badge of identification, and a fur hat. In one hand the Jew holds a money bag, and in the other hand a walking stick (the image is similar to that of the "Eternal Jew").
A similar booklet is listed in Worldcat (dated 1581) attributed to Johannes Folk. In the booklet offered here, the name Jobst Mellern is printed next to the image of the Jew (it may be the name of the author or the publisher).
[22] pp, 18 cm. Good-fair condition. Dark paper, stains, creases and some damages at margins of leaves. Tears and an erased ink stamp on title page. Lower margins are chopped. Old paper wrapper, spine fastened with adhesive tape. Several inscriptions in pen within the booklet.
Rubens, A Jewish Iconography, no. 2131.
Category
Rare and Important Items
Catalogue
Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
December 2, 2015
Opening: $3,000
Unsold
Collection of official documents – regulations and decrees related to German Jews. Germany, 18th-19th century. German and Czech.
1. "Vorschrift wie es mit den Eides-Leistungen der Juden zu halten". Pamphlet of regulations concerning Jews taking an oath in court. [Germany (Braunschweig?), 1780s].
A document outlining various regulations concerning oaths taken by Jews. It is stated that oaths have to be taken in synagogues or in Jewish schools, in the presence of a rabbi or a Jewish scholar, not on Saturdays or Jewish Holidays. Further on appear instructions for oath taking, special regulations regarding women and the text that has to be read to the oath taker.
2-17. Sixteen "circulars" issued by the imperial government of Moravia and Silesia, 1785-1846.
Listing of regulations and laws concerning Jews: a special regulation regarding Jewish Shochatim (slaughterers), taxes imposed on Jews, regulations related to marriages, trade, real-estate and housing, and more. One document appears in two copies.
18. “Instruction für die Obrigkeitlichen Steuereinnehme”. Instructions for tax collectors, regarding special taxes imposed on Jews in Moravia. Brunn, October 1798.
19. “Reglement wegen Aufhebung der Verpflichtung der Jüdischen Gemeinden”. Regulations for Jewish congregations. Berlin, July 1801.
20. “Ihro Königliche Majestät von Sachsen…”. Legal order regarding limitations on Jewish usury. Dresden, August 1811.
Total of 20 documents; some documents consist of several pages. Approx. 32 cm. Condition varies (overall good condition).
1. "Vorschrift wie es mit den Eides-Leistungen der Juden zu halten". Pamphlet of regulations concerning Jews taking an oath in court. [Germany (Braunschweig?), 1780s].
A document outlining various regulations concerning oaths taken by Jews. It is stated that oaths have to be taken in synagogues or in Jewish schools, in the presence of a rabbi or a Jewish scholar, not on Saturdays or Jewish Holidays. Further on appear instructions for oath taking, special regulations regarding women and the text that has to be read to the oath taker.
2-17. Sixteen "circulars" issued by the imperial government of Moravia and Silesia, 1785-1846.
Listing of regulations and laws concerning Jews: a special regulation regarding Jewish Shochatim (slaughterers), taxes imposed on Jews, regulations related to marriages, trade, real-estate and housing, and more. One document appears in two copies.
18. “Instruction für die Obrigkeitlichen Steuereinnehme”. Instructions for tax collectors, regarding special taxes imposed on Jews in Moravia. Brunn, October 1798.
19. “Reglement wegen Aufhebung der Verpflichtung der Jüdischen Gemeinden”. Regulations for Jewish congregations. Berlin, July 1801.
20. “Ihro Königliche Majestät von Sachsen…”. Legal order regarding limitations on Jewish usury. Dresden, August 1811.
Total of 20 documents; some documents consist of several pages. Approx. 32 cm. Condition varies (overall good condition).
Category
Rare and Important Items
Catalogue
Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
December 2, 2015
Opening: $1,000
Sold for: $2,125
Including buyer's premium
Thirteen leaves "Biuletyn Kroniki Codziennej" [The Bulletin of the Daily Chronicle] printed on behalf of Wydział Archiwum [Archive Department] of the Lodz Ghetto. Lodz, 1941-1942. Polish.
Bulletins no. 49, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 78, 80, 98, 103, 107, 108, 109. Typewritten / duplicated. The shortened title "B.K.C." appears on some of the issues. Deletions and numerous handwritten comments appear on some, in pen and in pencil (most probably from the time of printing).
Offered here are original leaves of "the Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto". The decision to found the archive department that published the chronicle, was taken by the head of the Judenrat, Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski. The chronicle was written continuously from early in January 1941 to July 30, 1944. The chronicle compiles a daily chronological summary of events that had transpired in the ghetto. The authors were journalists, authors and intellectuals; among the prominent authors were the journalist Julian Cukier, engineer Bernard Ostrowsky, ethnographer Josef Zelkowicz and the biblical scholar Dr. Avraham Shalom Kamenetzky. The records are based on documents and facts submitted to the archives by the various departments of the Jewish administration in the ghetto, according to an explicit order by Rumkowski. The leaves contain documentation, generally on a daily basis, of the weather, statistics regarding births and deaths, arrests and criminal matters, food distribution, state of the population's health, broadsides and official notices, reports from work places, events such as persecutions and deportations, oppression and executions. Articles about life in the ghetto appear often in the chronicles, concerning the population’s mood, photographs of daily life, rumors and even jokes.
The chronicle leaves which survived the liquidation of the ghetto include some 2,000 typewritten leaves, which are presently in the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and in YIVO Institute in New-York. In 1965-1966 parts of the chronicles were published in Poland, and in 1984 a significant part of the chronicles, translated to English was published in the United States. The complete version of the chronicles was printed in Israel, in four volumes during 1987-1989.
Lucjan Dobroszycki writes in the introduction to the Hebrew edition: “The chronicle of Lodz Ghetto is devastating in its simplicity and constitutes a document of extreme historical value. The vast scope of information, the accuracy of the records and the systematic manner in which it was composed, create a unique source of information, unlike any other source of information concerning the extermination of European Jews in World War II. Unlike numerous personal accounts from that period, the chronicle was not only composed on a daily basis, but the facts and events recorded were based on first hand sources or on documents which were also composed at the time, mainly due to the fact that it was composed by an institute which had access to almost all of the inner records of the ghetto. This institute was the archive of the head of the Judenrat in Lodz Ghetto”.
Lot of 17 leaves, average size: 30 cm. Condition varies. Some are torn, with folding marks, and significantly worn.
Bulletins no. 49, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 78, 80, 98, 103, 107, 108, 109. Typewritten / duplicated. The shortened title "B.K.C." appears on some of the issues. Deletions and numerous handwritten comments appear on some, in pen and in pencil (most probably from the time of printing).
Offered here are original leaves of "the Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto". The decision to found the archive department that published the chronicle, was taken by the head of the Judenrat, Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski. The chronicle was written continuously from early in January 1941 to July 30, 1944. The chronicle compiles a daily chronological summary of events that had transpired in the ghetto. The authors were journalists, authors and intellectuals; among the prominent authors were the journalist Julian Cukier, engineer Bernard Ostrowsky, ethnographer Josef Zelkowicz and the biblical scholar Dr. Avraham Shalom Kamenetzky. The records are based on documents and facts submitted to the archives by the various departments of the Jewish administration in the ghetto, according to an explicit order by Rumkowski. The leaves contain documentation, generally on a daily basis, of the weather, statistics regarding births and deaths, arrests and criminal matters, food distribution, state of the population's health, broadsides and official notices, reports from work places, events such as persecutions and deportations, oppression and executions. Articles about life in the ghetto appear often in the chronicles, concerning the population’s mood, photographs of daily life, rumors and even jokes.
The chronicle leaves which survived the liquidation of the ghetto include some 2,000 typewritten leaves, which are presently in the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and in YIVO Institute in New-York. In 1965-1966 parts of the chronicles were published in Poland, and in 1984 a significant part of the chronicles, translated to English was published in the United States. The complete version of the chronicles was printed in Israel, in four volumes during 1987-1989.
Lucjan Dobroszycki writes in the introduction to the Hebrew edition: “The chronicle of Lodz Ghetto is devastating in its simplicity and constitutes a document of extreme historical value. The vast scope of information, the accuracy of the records and the systematic manner in which it was composed, create a unique source of information, unlike any other source of information concerning the extermination of European Jews in World War II. Unlike numerous personal accounts from that period, the chronicle was not only composed on a daily basis, but the facts and events recorded were based on first hand sources or on documents which were also composed at the time, mainly due to the fact that it was composed by an institute which had access to almost all of the inner records of the ghetto. This institute was the archive of the head of the Judenrat in Lodz Ghetto”.
Lot of 17 leaves, average size: 30 cm. Condition varies. Some are torn, with folding marks, and significantly worn.
Category
Rare and Important Items
Catalogue
Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
December 2, 2015
Opening: $70,000
Unsold
“Postal History of the Lodz Ghetto (1940-1945), Original research focusing on what was probably the most unusual and bizarre Postal service in the 20th Century”.
A unique research into the postal history of Lodz Ghetto, 1940-1945, accompanied by 155 original philatelic items – letters, envelopes, postal cards, documents, ink-stamps, telegrams, postal stamps and proofs, some extremely rare.
The collection is divided into chapters illustrating chronologically the development of the postal system in the Ghetto: the Beginning of the Ghetto, Pre-Postal Embargo Mail, letters by Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski to the management of the Postal Services, letters to and from Jews employed outside the Ghetto (postcards sent by Jews who were forced to construct the Autobahn between Frankfurt and Posen, from forced labor camps in Posen, Sternberg, Bielitz, and more), letters sent to the Ghetto from other Ghettos (among them postcards sent to Lodz Ghetto from Ghettos in Czestochowa, Opoczno, Jozefow, Zduńska Wola, Kielce, and more; a postcard sent from Lodz Ghetto to a refugee shelter in Warsaw Ghetto), postal censorship in the Ghetto, Telegram service, the effect of the mail embargo, registered mail and parcel post services, “Signs of Life” postcards, postal rules for transferring money to the Ghetto, “Return to Sender” letters, German mail in the Ghetto, preparations for setting up the Ghetto postal system (including sketches and proposals for designs of stamps, sheets, proofs and more), the last months of the Ghetto (including the last documented letter sent from the Ghetto), and more.
The collection and research were done in a precise, meticulous and impressive manner by a collector, for nearly three decades. The items are presented on album pages, with printed texts next to each item, introductions and important comments. This collection, arranged according to subjects, including discoveries and research results, is the most comprehensive collection regarding the history of postal services in the Lodz Ghetto and could be used as a basis for an exhibition.
Size and condition varies. Overall good condition.
A unique research into the postal history of Lodz Ghetto, 1940-1945, accompanied by 155 original philatelic items – letters, envelopes, postal cards, documents, ink-stamps, telegrams, postal stamps and proofs, some extremely rare.
The collection is divided into chapters illustrating chronologically the development of the postal system in the Ghetto: the Beginning of the Ghetto, Pre-Postal Embargo Mail, letters by Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski to the management of the Postal Services, letters to and from Jews employed outside the Ghetto (postcards sent by Jews who were forced to construct the Autobahn between Frankfurt and Posen, from forced labor camps in Posen, Sternberg, Bielitz, and more), letters sent to the Ghetto from other Ghettos (among them postcards sent to Lodz Ghetto from Ghettos in Czestochowa, Opoczno, Jozefow, Zduńska Wola, Kielce, and more; a postcard sent from Lodz Ghetto to a refugee shelter in Warsaw Ghetto), postal censorship in the Ghetto, Telegram service, the effect of the mail embargo, registered mail and parcel post services, “Signs of Life” postcards, postal rules for transferring money to the Ghetto, “Return to Sender” letters, German mail in the Ghetto, preparations for setting up the Ghetto postal system (including sketches and proposals for designs of stamps, sheets, proofs and more), the last months of the Ghetto (including the last documented letter sent from the Ghetto), and more.
The collection and research were done in a precise, meticulous and impressive manner by a collector, for nearly three decades. The items are presented on album pages, with printed texts next to each item, introductions and important comments. This collection, arranged according to subjects, including discoveries and research results, is the most comprehensive collection regarding the history of postal services in the Lodz Ghetto and could be used as a basis for an exhibition.
Size and condition varies. Overall good condition.
Category
Rare and Important Items
Catalogue
Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
December 2, 2015
Opening: $2,000
Sold for: $2,500
Including buyer's premium
Collection of Items owned by Josephine Micheels, a Dutch Jewish woman born on November 18, 1917, in The Hague. Holland and Czechoslovakia, 1943. Dutch and French.
Micheels, as gathered from the items in this collection, was deported from The Hague to Vught Concentration Camp in April 1943, from there to Westerbork Police Transit Camp for Jews, where she was held between July 1943 and September 1944, and from there to Theresienstadt, where she was held between September 1944 and February 1945. Afterwards, Micheels was held in two other camps and later, it seems, she returned to Holland.
The collection includes:
1-2. Two programs of events organized by the "Bühne Lager Westerbork" theater group active in Westerbork, directed by Max Ehrlich, with the participation of Willy Rosen, Erich Ziegler, Lishl Frank, Otto Aurich, and others. The group performed theater plays, cabaret and opera. One program, "Humor und Melodie" (program no. 2), was held on September 4, 1943 ["Humor and Melody", was the largest production by Ehrlich in the camp], and the other, "Bunter Abend" (program no. 4), was performed on March, 1944.
3-8. Six poems handwritten by Micheels, composed for her loved one.
9. Notebook with 16 handwritten leaves, most probably from the period during which Micheels stayed in Vught and Westerbork camps, as well as a note written while in Theresienstadt.
10-13. Four postcards sent to Micheels (two from Fernand Haas, or maybe all four of them), one sent to her address in The Hague and three to Westerbork camp. Two postcards were written on designated postcards of a German camp for prisoners of war (Kriegsgefangenenlager); one envelope addressed to Micheels, in barrack no. 65 (with handwritten inscriptions on the envelope).
14. Remnants of a work certificate (Arbeitsausweis) of Micheels, from Theresienstadt.
15. Paper label with her name and date of birth.
Enclosed are some additional documents.
Sizes and conditions vary. Some items in fair-poor condition.
Micheels, as gathered from the items in this collection, was deported from The Hague to Vught Concentration Camp in April 1943, from there to Westerbork Police Transit Camp for Jews, where she was held between July 1943 and September 1944, and from there to Theresienstadt, where she was held between September 1944 and February 1945. Afterwards, Micheels was held in two other camps and later, it seems, she returned to Holland.
The collection includes:
1-2. Two programs of events organized by the "Bühne Lager Westerbork" theater group active in Westerbork, directed by Max Ehrlich, with the participation of Willy Rosen, Erich Ziegler, Lishl Frank, Otto Aurich, and others. The group performed theater plays, cabaret and opera. One program, "Humor und Melodie" (program no. 2), was held on September 4, 1943 ["Humor and Melody", was the largest production by Ehrlich in the camp], and the other, "Bunter Abend" (program no. 4), was performed on March, 1944.
3-8. Six poems handwritten by Micheels, composed for her loved one.
9. Notebook with 16 handwritten leaves, most probably from the period during which Micheels stayed in Vught and Westerbork camps, as well as a note written while in Theresienstadt.
10-13. Four postcards sent to Micheels (two from Fernand Haas, or maybe all four of them), one sent to her address in The Hague and three to Westerbork camp. Two postcards were written on designated postcards of a German camp for prisoners of war (Kriegsgefangenenlager); one envelope addressed to Micheels, in barrack no. 65 (with handwritten inscriptions on the envelope).
14. Remnants of a work certificate (Arbeitsausweis) of Micheels, from Theresienstadt.
15. Paper label with her name and date of birth.
Enclosed are some additional documents.
Sizes and conditions vary. Some items in fair-poor condition.
Category
Rare and Important Items
Catalogue
Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
December 2, 2015
Opening: $5,000
Unsold
An archive containing more than one hundred documents related to Hillel Storch, Chairman of the World Jewish Congress in Sweden and to his endeavors to rescue Jews from the Nazis during the last years of the Nazi regime.
The archive contains:
· Feststellungen, die im Zuge der Befreiungsaktionen von Schutzhäftlingen aus deutschen Konzentrationslagern getroffen wurden [findings revealed when “custody prisoners” were liberated from German concentration camps], affidavit signed by Franz Goering – SS officer who was appointed by Walter Schellenberg, Himmler’s assistant, as a liaison officer for the “White Busses” operation.
An affidavit of nine pages; each page is signed by Goering on the bottom in initials; the document is signed at the end by Goering with his complete signature. On page 2, three lines were added by Goering, by hand.
The affidavit refers to the operation of transferring 1200 Jews from Theresienstadt to Switzerland, initiated by the Swiss economist Jean-Marie Musy in 1944, and to the operations of rescuing prisoners from various camps and transferring them to Sweden during 1945. The document also directly refers to the rescue of Jews. According to a note attached to the affidavit, the document was signed in Storch’s office.
Enclosed is an additional copy, not signed, as well as an additional document titled “some comments about the people’s outrage regarding November 8, 1938 (Kristallnacht)” [Einige Notizen über die sogenannte volks empörung am 8. November 1938]. This document is not signed but Goering’s name is written at the end, in pencil.
· A letter handwritten by Norbert Masur to Hillel Storch; written on Masur’s official letterhead, dated 18.7 (no year).
· Roll of film with 67 negatives of photographs portraying the “White Busses” operation. Among the photographs – concentration camps survivors, rescue teams, ships that served to transfer survivors to Sweden.
· Transcript of a report composed by Raul Walenberg, 22.10.1944, relating to the state of Hungarian Jews (two typewritten pages; Swedish). With this document is another transcript of a report in German which is not signed, from the same period, quoting the Hungarian press agency MTI, regarding the Race Laws imposed on Jews among them the obligation to wear a yellow badge, curfew laws, and more. Both transcripts bear a signature (unidentified).
· A typewritten letter, written by Felix Kersten to Storch on April 4,1945, while staying in Stockholm, in which he reports that Himmler agreed to transfer 450 Danish and Norwegian Jews from Theresienstadt to Neuengamme and from there to Sweden. Not signed; on upper part appear the initials F.K., with handwritten corrections. In addition – a document in Yiddish from March 1, 1945, which might have been written by Storch, titled "Kersten", outlining, probably, the main points of a meeting between the two. Mentioned are the Jews of Finland, Himmler, Hitler, concentration camps, and more; three original carbon-copies of letters sent by Storch to Felix Kersten in March-April 1945, mentioning Kersten's proposal that Storch would go to Germany to meet with Himmler; an affidavit in Swedish "about the relations with Felix Kersten"; a document (four-pages) by Baron von Nagel, Dutch Ambassador to Sweden, from 1949; a document consisting of 26 pages with translations into English of documents relating to Felix Kersten – "The Data on the Finnish Medical Councillor E.A. Felix Kersten's humanitarian relief work during the war 1940-1945…", typewritten with some corrections in pen.
· Carbon copy of a letter to Walter Shcellenberg, Himmler's assistant, from June 1945 (one month after the German surrender), with a series of questions – about Eichmann, Rudolf Kastner, Bergen-Belsen Jews, and more. The name of the writer of this letter is not mentioned, and it is signed in pen but the signature is not clear, maybe it is Storch's signature. In addition – transcript of a letter from Schellenberg to Storch, written one week earlier, on June 6; two copies of a 96-pages report in German written by Schellenberg in which he outlines mainly the events of April-May 1945 (typewritten, not signed).
· Transcript of a telegram from Storch to the heads of the World Jewish Congress in New-York, in which he informs them that he authorized Kersten to go to Germany and meet with Himmler. March 31, 1945. Typewritten.
· A letter from the prime minister of Sweden, Tage Erlander, from 1951. Typewritten on official stationery of the prime minister, signed in pen.
· 18 original documents and some photocopies of documents, related to Storch's years in Latvia, to his immigration to Sweden in 1940, to his attempts to immigrate from there to the United States; an invitation to Storch's wedding, 1937; copy of a letter that Storch wrote to his wife in 1940, when he was already in Sweden while his wife and son were still in Riga; documents regarding the nationalization of Storch's enterprise in Riga by the Soviet authorities; Storch's and his family's visas to Palestine, which have never been used; and more.
· About 80 documents, most of them from the second half of the 1940s, dealing with various aspects of Storch's life in Sweden – his Zionist activity, business, personal life, as well as numerous letters from people who were refugees in Sweden and thanked him sincerely for his assistance and commitment. Among the documents: 14 copies of telegrams exchange between Storch and the Jewish Agency in Palestine, May 1943-May 1945, including lists of Hungarian Jews that must be saved; 14 carbon-copies of correspondence and telegrams-exchange between Storch and Salomon Adler-Rudel, of the Jewish Agency in London, July 1943-May 1945, mainly regarding the attempts to rescue Danish Jews and to the arrival of Jews on the "White Busses" in Sweden; three reports by Dr. Otto Schutz, member of the World Jewish Congress in Sweden, two of them from March 1945, about Bergen-Belsen and Ravensbrück extermination camps, most probably as a preparation for the "White Busses" operation. Carbon copies, with handwritten correction; and more.
The archive contains:
· Feststellungen, die im Zuge der Befreiungsaktionen von Schutzhäftlingen aus deutschen Konzentrationslagern getroffen wurden [findings revealed when “custody prisoners” were liberated from German concentration camps], affidavit signed by Franz Goering – SS officer who was appointed by Walter Schellenberg, Himmler’s assistant, as a liaison officer for the “White Busses” operation.
An affidavit of nine pages; each page is signed by Goering on the bottom in initials; the document is signed at the end by Goering with his complete signature. On page 2, three lines were added by Goering, by hand.
The affidavit refers to the operation of transferring 1200 Jews from Theresienstadt to Switzerland, initiated by the Swiss economist Jean-Marie Musy in 1944, and to the operations of rescuing prisoners from various camps and transferring them to Sweden during 1945. The document also directly refers to the rescue of Jews. According to a note attached to the affidavit, the document was signed in Storch’s office.
Enclosed is an additional copy, not signed, as well as an additional document titled “some comments about the people’s outrage regarding November 8, 1938 (Kristallnacht)” [Einige Notizen über die sogenannte volks empörung am 8. November 1938]. This document is not signed but Goering’s name is written at the end, in pencil.
· A letter handwritten by Norbert Masur to Hillel Storch; written on Masur’s official letterhead, dated 18.7 (no year).
· Roll of film with 67 negatives of photographs portraying the “White Busses” operation. Among the photographs – concentration camps survivors, rescue teams, ships that served to transfer survivors to Sweden.
· Transcript of a report composed by Raul Walenberg, 22.10.1944, relating to the state of Hungarian Jews (two typewritten pages; Swedish). With this document is another transcript of a report in German which is not signed, from the same period, quoting the Hungarian press agency MTI, regarding the Race Laws imposed on Jews among them the obligation to wear a yellow badge, curfew laws, and more. Both transcripts bear a signature (unidentified).
· A typewritten letter, written by Felix Kersten to Storch on April 4,1945, while staying in Stockholm, in which he reports that Himmler agreed to transfer 450 Danish and Norwegian Jews from Theresienstadt to Neuengamme and from there to Sweden. Not signed; on upper part appear the initials F.K., with handwritten corrections. In addition – a document in Yiddish from March 1, 1945, which might have been written by Storch, titled "Kersten", outlining, probably, the main points of a meeting between the two. Mentioned are the Jews of Finland, Himmler, Hitler, concentration camps, and more; three original carbon-copies of letters sent by Storch to Felix Kersten in March-April 1945, mentioning Kersten's proposal that Storch would go to Germany to meet with Himmler; an affidavit in Swedish "about the relations with Felix Kersten"; a document (four-pages) by Baron von Nagel, Dutch Ambassador to Sweden, from 1949; a document consisting of 26 pages with translations into English of documents relating to Felix Kersten – "The Data on the Finnish Medical Councillor E.A. Felix Kersten's humanitarian relief work during the war 1940-1945…", typewritten with some corrections in pen.
· Carbon copy of a letter to Walter Shcellenberg, Himmler's assistant, from June 1945 (one month after the German surrender), with a series of questions – about Eichmann, Rudolf Kastner, Bergen-Belsen Jews, and more. The name of the writer of this letter is not mentioned, and it is signed in pen but the signature is not clear, maybe it is Storch's signature. In addition – transcript of a letter from Schellenberg to Storch, written one week earlier, on June 6; two copies of a 96-pages report in German written by Schellenberg in which he outlines mainly the events of April-May 1945 (typewritten, not signed).
· Transcript of a telegram from Storch to the heads of the World Jewish Congress in New-York, in which he informs them that he authorized Kersten to go to Germany and meet with Himmler. March 31, 1945. Typewritten.
· A letter from the prime minister of Sweden, Tage Erlander, from 1951. Typewritten on official stationery of the prime minister, signed in pen.
· 18 original documents and some photocopies of documents, related to Storch's years in Latvia, to his immigration to Sweden in 1940, to his attempts to immigrate from there to the United States; an invitation to Storch's wedding, 1937; copy of a letter that Storch wrote to his wife in 1940, when he was already in Sweden while his wife and son were still in Riga; documents regarding the nationalization of Storch's enterprise in Riga by the Soviet authorities; Storch's and his family's visas to Palestine, which have never been used; and more.
· About 80 documents, most of them from the second half of the 1940s, dealing with various aspects of Storch's life in Sweden – his Zionist activity, business, personal life, as well as numerous letters from people who were refugees in Sweden and thanked him sincerely for his assistance and commitment. Among the documents: 14 copies of telegrams exchange between Storch and the Jewish Agency in Palestine, May 1943-May 1945, including lists of Hungarian Jews that must be saved; 14 carbon-copies of correspondence and telegrams-exchange between Storch and Salomon Adler-Rudel, of the Jewish Agency in London, July 1943-May 1945, mainly regarding the attempts to rescue Danish Jews and to the arrival of Jews on the "White Busses" in Sweden; three reports by Dr. Otto Schutz, member of the World Jewish Congress in Sweden, two of them from March 1945, about Bergen-Belsen and Ravensbrück extermination camps, most probably as a preparation for the "White Busses" operation. Carbon copies, with handwritten correction; and more.
Category
Rare and Important Items
Catalogue
Auction 48 - Rare and Important Items
December 2, 2015
Opening: $100,000
Unsold
A flag of Israel, which was removed from the mast of the illegal immigration ship “Yetziat Europa 1947” (“Exodus”). The flag offered here was removed from the mast of “Exodus” which anchored in Haifa on July 18, 1947, by Mike (Michael) Weiss, an American “Machal” volunteer who served as a boatswain-carpenter on the ship. Weiss was a member of a volunteers’ group enlisted to serve as the ship’s crew immediately after it was purchased in the United States, when it was still “SS President Warfield”. The crew, drafted in the United States, consisted mainly of Jewish-American volunteers. After disembarking the ship in Haifa, Weiss was deported, with some other crew members, to Atlit Detention Camp; when he was released from the camp he returned to the United States (Weiss’s name appears on the lists of “Exodus” crew members as well as in the lists of prisoners in Atlit Detention Camp). Weiss lived in Philadelphia and having no children, he gave the flag in 1977 to his friend in Jerusalem, Rabbi Hillel Kolidetsky. Weiss added some inscriptions on the margins of the flag, indicating its history: “C/B. Mike Weiss”, “S.S. Exodus 4-10-46” [it seems that this date marks the date of Weiss’s enlistment to Mahal], “Form[er]ly S.S. Pres- Warfield”, and “13 Camp Atlit”. In a “British Pathé” newsreel documenting the “Exodus” in the port of Haifa, Weiss is seen climbing the ship’s mast and removing the flag (
see link, min. 02:30). 150X85 cm. Overall good condition. Stains, folding marks and creases. Enclosed is a certificate from Rabbi Hillel Kolidetsky. The illegal immigration ship “Exodus” sailed to Eretz Israel from the port of Sète, near Marseille, on July 11, 1947 at 05:00 am, with some 4500 holocaust survivors and 70 crew members on board. On July 18, 1947, at dawn, just 24 hours before the scheduled arrival at the coastline of Eretz Israel, a British destroyers rammed the “Exodus”. At the time, the ship was some 20 miles from the Gaza Shore. Fifty British soldiers boarded the ship firing smoke bombs and tear-gas grenades. The soldiers were attacked with “ammunition” prepared ahead of time which led the British soldiers to respond with live fire. After a struggle, which caused the death of three passengers and the first officer Bill Bernstein, and tens of casualties, Yossi Harel, the ship’s commander, surrendered. The ship sailed to Haifa where the passengers were forced to disembark. Chairman of the UNSCOP committee and a committee member from Yugoslavia, who were at the time in the country, responded to Moshe Sharett’s call (Sharett was head of the Jewish Agency Political Department) to witness the event. This left a strong impression on both. The immigrants were transferred to three deportation ships which sailed back to their port of departure. On July 29 the ships anchored in Port-de-Bouc in the south of France. The British tried to force the passengers to disembark but they refused. When the French Government refused to force the immigrants to disembark, the three deportation ships remained in port for three weeks. During this period, cultural and social activities were held on the ships (including printing a newspaper), assisted by “Haganah” representatives in France and emissaries from Eretz Israel who infiltrated the ships. The events in France received extensive media coverage, and led to protests in the Jewish world. The immigrants organized protests including a one day hunger strike. On August 22nd the deportation ships sailed to Hamburg. When they reached the port, the immigrants were forced to disembark, with some 200 journalists from all over the world witnessing the events. The illegal immigrants were then sent to two camps in the north of Germany, in the British zone. In two of the deportation ships, “Ocean Vigor” and “Runnymede Park”, the immigrants resisted disembarkation, but “Empire Rival” passengers disembarked quickly with no resistance. This aroused suspicions on the part of the British who then discovered a charge of explosives on the ship hidden by Haganah members; the explosives did not cause any damages. When weather conditions changed, the Jews were transferred to two winter camps in the area of Emden. After a year in detention camps in Germany, most of the ship’s passengers arrived in Eretz Israel, some with forged documents (Aliya Daled). In September 1948 the last of the “Exodus” illegal immigrants arrived in Israel. The “Exodus” affair was covered by the media all over the world and the photos of holocaust survivors deported behind barbed wire fences caused a severe shock. It seems that the media coverage led the British government to the conclusion that it cannot solve the problem of the Jewish refugees and to the resolution to allow the United Nations do so. The UNSCOP committee that witnessed the belligerent and forceful disembarkation of immigrants in the port of Haifa, led to a change in the course of the militant policy led by British Foreign Minister, Ernst Bevin. In 1958, the American-Jewish author Leon Uris published the book “Exodus” about the illegal immigration and the establishment of the State of Israel, and in 1960 the film “Exodus” (Director: Otto Preminger), based on the book, was released. The film starring Paul Newman, was filmed in Israel and was a commercial success, serving as an “ambassador” of Israel around the world.
Category
Rare and Important Items
Catalogue