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Tsveyuntsvantsik – lider [22 – poems], Yehiel Feiner. Warsaw: Kultur-Lige, 1931. Yiddish. Poetry book published by Yehiel Dinur (Ka Tsetnik) in Warsaw before WWII, when he was 22 years old ("Tsveyuntsvantsik Lider; Tsveyuntsvantsik Yoren" = twenty- two poems, twenty-two years"). Illustration on front wrapper and last page by the artist Yitzchak Broyner. Author Yehiel Dinur (formerly Feiner, 1909-2001), native of Sosnowiec, Poland, and Auschwitz survivor (where he lost his entire family); among the most important Holocaust writers. Dinur arrived with "HaBricha" to Palestine, where he devoted his life to writing about his experiences in the camps. While writing, Dinur was said to go back to the "planet of Auschwitz" – secluded in his room, dressed in his prisoner's uniform, not washing, eating or sleeping for days on end. His books, which include some very disturbing descriptions, were written anonymously under the pen name "Ka Tsetnik" (meaning "prisoner in a concentration camp"; derived from the German pronunciation of the letters KZ, an abbreviation of the term "Konzentrationslager" – "Concentration Camp"). Dinur's identity was revealed during the Eichmann Trial, when he was summoned to testify. When asked by the prosecutor, Gideon Hauser: "why are you hiding behind the pen name 'Ka Tsetnik'?" Dinur replied: "This is not a pen name. I do not consider myself an author who writes fiction. This is a chronicle of the planet Auschwitz. I was there for about two years. The time there is not like the time here, on Earth. Over there, each fraction of a minute turns on a different time-wheel, and the inhabitants of that planet did not have names. They did not have parents or children. They did not dress like we dress here. They were not born there and they did not give birth… they did not live by the laws of this world and they did not die. Their name was the number Ka Tsetnik". In the years after the war, whenever Dinur learned of the existence of copies of his early book Tsveyuntsvantsik, he made an effort to destroy them. At the end of 1993, he wrote in a letter to the head of the circulation department of the National Library of Israel, Shlomo Goldberg: "In 1953 I was informed, while in New York, that 'the book' by the author who perished in Auschwitz is exhibited in the national library as a rare exhibit, under glass. I went to the library, presented my PEN card [PEN – the international organization of poets, playwrights, editors, essayists, and novelists] and said that I am an Israeli author writing the life story of this author who perished. I received the book, walked out of the library and burned the book. About thirty years ago, someone in Tel-Aviv told me that 'the book' exists in the National Library in Jerusalem. I went to Jerusalem, and it turned out that the director of the library knew who I was. I did not need to 'cheat' in order to get the book, I left the library and burned 'the book'. A few months ago I heard from two students, who follow the life of Ka Tsetnik, that 'the book' is to be found in the National Library in Jerusalem. And the rest is known […] . I have one more request: as a token and testimony I have attached here the remainders of 'the book', please burn them just as my world and all that was dear to me was burnt in the crematorium in Auschwitz". In 2011 the remains of "Tsveyuntsvantsik" were exhibited in the National Library in Jerusalem in an exhibition called "Unrivaled Unrevealed – Select Treasures of the National Library" (Jerusalem, 2011; pp. 52-53), side by side with manuscripts by the Rambam, Isaac Newton, Martin Buber, Franz Kafka, S.Y. Agnon and other rare items. 62, [1] pp., 11.5X17.5 cm. Missing one leaf with the portrait of the author. Fair-good condition. Stains and damp damage, with mildew. Dark stains where the pages had been stapled together (staples were removed). Tears to front wrapper, close to spine.