Auction 87 - Jewish and Israeli Art, History and Culture
Including: sketches by Ze'ev Raban and Bezalel items, hildren's books, avant-garde books, rare ladino periodicals, and more
Most photographs in the collection depict Rudolph Katz, the family patriarch, who had portrait photos of himself taken throughout his life: as a child in a tailored suit, as a child wearing a swimming club uniform, with fellow students of the Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium in Breslau, during a military drill in a recruit training base, riding a horse as a cavalryman, in front of a WWI military barrack, at a masquerade ball, etc. Also included are photos depicting Rudolph's wife Greta, his parents, his children and other family members (some in military uniforms).
Numerous mounted photographs, with mounts bearing photographers' stamps and logos. Some photogrsphs were taken by Royal photographers ("Hoffotografen", court photographers to the German royalty) such as Wilhelm Höffert, Julius Cornelius Schaarwächter, Hermann Noack and others. The collection also includes two photographs printed on small metal plaques, taken in the novel Bosco Automat in Hamburg.
Some 110 Photographs. Size and condition vary. Some photographs captioned (Hebrew and German, captions dating to different periods) on verso or margins.
Enclosed: printed booklet containing a poem in honor of Rudolph and Greta's marriage.
A printed circular, pleading the recipient thereof to join the "Israelitische Union." According to the text, as demands for aid among the Jewish population grow daily, the organization is forced, time and again, to turn to the wealthier members of the Jewish community and ask their assistance.
A list on bottom of the circular names several of the organization's respectable members, among them Albert Einstein and Heinrich Loewe.
The "Israelitische Union E.V." was established in 1913; it provided medical treatment, legal advice, loans, and financial aid to the poor and needy of the Jewish community in Germany.
Approx. 22.5X28.5 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Stains. Minor tears to margins and fold lines.
1928 almanac of the Greater Berlin Jewish community. The almanac contains a wealth of information about official and independent Jewish organizations and societies, educational institutions, culture and sports, youth movements, Jewish businesses and professionals, synagogues and rabbis, Jewish newspapers and periodicals, and more. Also included are articles relating to the cultural and communal life of Berlin Jewry, indexes, and numerous advertisements.
[4] ff., 320, LXXXIV pp. 22 cm. Good condition. Foxing. Minor marginal tears to several leaves. Inked stamps to several leaves. Inscription on title page. Minor blemishes and stains to binding.
1. Kinder-Kalender des Jüdischen Frauenbundes, für das Jahr 5695, 1934/35.
Illustrated children's calendar, containing woodcuts (most of them signed in print "ES.") Five of the illustrations were colored with color pencils.
[1] front wrapper + [14] ff., 20 cm. Good condition. Some stains. Minor blemishes, mostly to margins. Final page detached.
2. Das Jahr des Judischen Frauenbundes, 5699, 1938/39.
Jewish calendar. Fifty-one pages (a page for each week of the year) with portraits, quotes, and works by Jewish artists on verso. Title page printed on heavy paper with illustrations of the signs of the zodiac. Including an order form for the 1939/40 calendar (unpublished.)
51 ff., + [1] order form, approx. 17X13 cm. Good-fair condition. Pages bound with a string, threaded through filing holes. Closed tears and minor open tears to margins (mostly around the filing holes.) Minor blemishes to pages. Dedication on title page; hand-written inscriptions to several pages.
"Psst!" was a French weekly satirical magazine published at the time of the Dreyfus Affair to promote the anti-Dreyfus cause. The hundreds of vehement illustrations by Forain and Caran d'Ache are considered to be amongst the most extreme anti-Semitic publications related to the Dreyfus Affair.
85 issues. [4] pp per issue. 40 cm. Good-fair condition (several issues in fair condition). Stains. Creases, tears and open tears (some of them large). The issues are in a parchment binding, detached and damaged.
An antisemitic poster displayed in hotels and bath-houses in the island of Borkum (Germany), referring to a fictitious rail line from the island to Jerusalem: "The Borkum-Jerusalem line timetable […] it is hereby announced to the venerable Christian public that Jewish passengers will be inspected at the border and that the Jews who evaporate to Jerusalem will be allowed to carry with them six marks only. Return tickets are not issued".
As early as the late 19th century, the island of Borkum in the North Sea gained a notorious reputation for its antisemitism. A travel guide from 1897 announced that the island is "free of Jews" (Judenrein) and a travel guide from 1910 warned Jews of "cruel harassments". Many hotels and public bath-houses in Burkum displayed signs reading "Jews and dogs may not enter" and the island's orchestra performed daily an antisemitic song titled "Borkum Song" (Borkum-Lied), with a finale calling the "flat-footed, with hooked nose and curly hair" to get out.
The text of this poster was published in issue no. 44 (ninth year) of the Association for Defense against Antisemitism (Mitteilungen aus dem Verein zur Abwehr des Antisemitismus) periodical (Berlin, November 1899).
63X47 cm. Thin paper. Good-fair condition. Fold lines and creases. Tears along fold lined and margins. Pinholes and minor open tears.
Booklet documenting in pictures the trial held against Menahem Mendel Beilis, and various individuals related to the affair, including the murder victim, judges, witnesses, lawyers, and others. Each pictue is captioned in Yiddish and Russian.
Menahem Mendel Beilis was accused of the ritual murder of a Ukrainian Christian boy, Andrei Iushchinskii, in April, 1911. Beilis was arrested on the basis of a false testimony, and his trial commenced in September 1913. The purported murder and trial triggered an anti-Jewish campaign of incitement. Beilis was finally acquitted on November 10, 1913, following three years in detention. In the wake of the 1917 Revolution, a commission of inquiry into the affair was established. Its findings revealed that the authorities were fully aware of the true story; the trial was staged, and the motives behind it were purely anti-Semitic. This booklet was printed to mark the occasion of Beilis's acquittal. The final picture shows Beilis as a free man, after his release from prison.
[13] pp., 8X16 cm. Good condition. Stains. Marginal tear to title page. Gilt hardcover. Minor blemishes and abrasions to cover.
Booklet published by The Jewish Consistory of Bulgaria, providing evidence found in scripture, papal encyclicals, documents by various leaders, potentates and Christian scholars, which refute the common assertion that Jews use the blood of Christians for ritual purposes – a claim which instigated numerous blood libels (possibly, the booklet was published as a response to a blood libel that spread on the eve of Rosh HaShanah, 1929, claiming that a Christian girl was abducted by a cantor from the city of Haskovo).
The author, Saul Mezan (1893-1943), Bulgarian poet, Judaic scholar and Zionist activist – delegate to the 12th Zionist Congress, and translator of the works of Jabotinsky (with whom he corresponded) to Bulgarian. Following the "Law for the Protection of the Nation" (the Bulgarian racial law, 1941), he became a dissident, was expelled from Bulgaria, and joined the Partisans. The circumstances of his death and the whereabouts of his burial place remain unknown.
32, [2] pp., 23 cm. Good condition. Stains to cover. Minor stains to pages. Corners creased. Minor marginal tears. Front and back cover detached; open tears to margins. Spine crumbled, with loss.
Rare booklet. One copy listed in OCLC (in the NLI).
Eight blue paperboard cards, folded in half. Printed on one side of the cards are a Star of David, the caption "Für Hilfe und Aufbau" [for aid and rehabilitation], and other details (the names of the receivers were added by hand). Printed inscription on some of the cards indicates that they were issued by the Berlin Jewish community; a number of cards bear inked stamps of Jewish welfare agencies in Breslau (Jud. Wohlfahrtsamt Breslau) and in Munich (Wohlfahrtsant der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde München).
Twelve stamps, of different face values, are mounted on the inside of each card – one for each monthly contribution to the Central Welfare Agency for German Jews. The color illustrations on the stamps mostly depict Jewish themes: emblems of the Twelve Tribes; Jewish ceremonial objects; holidays, ceremonies and customs (a Jewish wedding, prayer at the Western Wall, lighting Shabbat candles and a Purim celebration); biblical figures and more.
Such cards were distributed by the Central Welfare Agency for German Jews as of 1934, recording funds donated through the agency. The donations were used for assisting German Jews who lost their means of earning a living or were affected in a different manner by Nazi policies.
Eight paperboard cards, 20X15 cm, folded in half. Good overall condition. Stains (including foxing from paper clips) and minor blemishes. A filing hole to one card. An open tear and traces of gluing to margins of another card.
Transpotrundschreiben für die Chawerim der Gruppe Ajelet Haschachar ["Traveler's Information Sheets for Members of the Ayelet HaShachar Group"], document containing detailed information for immigrants to Palestine, issued by the "Jüdische Jugendhilfe" [Youth Aliyah; in Hebrew, "Aliyat HaNo'ar"] organization. Berlin, [1939]. German.
Ten-page document (mimeographed), dated July 5 (year not indicated), issued by the Youth Aliyah organization. The name of the immigrant to whom the document is addressed – Heinz Freundlich – is written in pencil at the top of the first page; apparently, he belonged to the "Ayelet HaShachar" group which was scheduled to set sail from Trieste to Haifa on board the ship "Palestine" on August 9. The document gives a detailed list of all the things the prospective immigrant must know before embarking, namely what documents are required by the authorities, payment schedules, train schedules, the ship's departure time, regulations regarding visas and baggage, travel costs, equipment needed for the journey, and more. All stages of the journey had been planned out by the "Palestine Office" of the Jewish Agency.
Heinz Freundlich's name appears on the "List of Immigrants Arriving in Palestine" of the Aliyah Office in Haifa (available for viewing on the Israel State Archives website), dated August 14, 1939.
With the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Germany, in 1932 Recha Freier (1892-1984) initiated and founded the Youth Aliyah ("Aliyat Hano'ar") organization. The purpose of the organization was to assist young Jewish individuals with vocational training and prepare them for immigration to Palestine, where they would hopefully receive a Zionist education and put their skills and national values to work in the building of the future Jewish country. Initially, Freier operated independently, but eventually the organization she founded won the support of the Jewish Agency, and Henriette Szold (1860-1945) was entrusted with leading it. The Youth Aliyah organization sought to promote and advance the cause of Zionism among German Jewry; it brought together groups of young men and women, took responsibility for their education and training, facilitated applications for immigration certificates to Palestine, partially funded their immigration, and assigned the various groups for placement on specific kibbutzim and moshavim in Palestine, such as Ein Harod, Nahalal, Sde Eliyahu, and Ayelet HaShachar. Up until the outbreak of World War II, the organization helped roughly 5,000 young men and women – mostly from Western Europe – immigrate to Palestine.
The "Palestine Office, " in all its dealings, was subordinate to the immigration department of the Jewish Agency for Palestine in Jerusalem. It represented the executive branch of the Jewish Agency, assuming responsibility on its behalf for all aspects of the process of immigration to Palestine, including the submission of requests for exit permits from Germany and the issuing of British certificates. Throughout the 1930s and in the early 1940s, it facilitated the immigration – and, for all intents and purposes, rescue – of tens of thousands of immigrants from Germany.
10 ff., approx. 29 cm. Fair-poor condition. Stains. Closed and open tears, causing minor damage to text. Leaves torn in half (along fold line; mended with adhesive tape on back). Several leaves held together with a staple.
Fascinating document prepared by the Palestine Office of the Jewish Agency in Berlin. The mimeographed four-page document contains vital, practical information and instructions for prospective immigrants to Palestine prior to their embarkation. It includes information regarding the documents required for leaving Germany (since Jews were now exempt from military draft, they were eligible to leave the country without any particular problems; an exit permit from the local police station was necessary); information regarding the withdrawal of cash and bonds and other securities from the country, and the shipping of movable property items; special instructions for groups (no singing or noisemaking during the train ride to Trieste; do not use the Hebrew word "lihitra'ot" ["see you"]); instructions on how to behave upon arrival in Trieste; and more.
The "Palestine Office, " in all its dealings, was subordinate to the immigration department of the Jewish Agency for Palestine in Jerusalem. It represented the executive branch of the Jewish Agency, assuming responsibility on its behalf for all aspects of the process of immigration to Palestine, including the submission of requests for exit permits from Germany and the issuing of British certificates. Throughout the 1930s and in the early 1940s, it facilitated the immigration – and, for all intents and purposes, rescue – of tens of thousands of immigrants from Germany.
[1], 3 ff. Upper half of leaf no. 2 missing. Approx. 29 cm. Fair-poor condition. Stains. Closed and open tears, with minor damage to text. Some repairs with adhesive tape. Leaves torn in half (along fold line; mended with adhesive tape on back).
The passport photograph, personal details, and signature of the bearer – Faiga Przygoda – appear on the first pages of the passport. According to the details given, Przygoda was born in Plonsk, Poland, in 1918, and resided in Tel Aviv; her occupation is listed as "milliner." Appearing on the following pages are inked stamps and permits documenting her journey: Przygoda is certified to have departed via the Port of Tel Aviv in August of 1939, and entered Romania via the Port of Constanța (on the shores of the Black Sea); from there, she reached Poland on August 26, 1939, five days before the outbreak of the Second World War.
The following inked stamps were applied after the map of Europe was fundamentally altered. These include a stamp of the Nazi German authorities then occupying Warsaw, with a notation dated January 16, 1940; a stamp of the German border police from February, 1940; a Nazi German exit permit issued in the city of Lublin; a permit from the Fascist regime in Italy allowing entry into that country; an exit stamp from Germany via the border crossing at Arnoldstein (Austria); and an exit stamp from the Port of Trieste dated March 1, 1940. The last stamp on the passport, dated March 7, 1940, is an entry stamp into British Mandatory Palestine, issued at the Port of Haifa.
32 pp., 15 cm. Good condition. Stains. Few blemishes. Binding slightly worn.