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Majdanek [Maydanek - A Destruction Camp], by Zinowij Tolkaczew [Zinowii Tolkatchev]. Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1945. Polish, Russian, English and French.
Limited edition, numbered portfolio (600 copies) containing 28 plates after paintings by Tolkatchev. The paintings were created after Tolkatchev participated in July 1944 in the liberation of the Maydanek extermination camp as a Red Army soldier.
Tolkatchev was a Russian artist who enlisted in the Red Army in 1941. In 1944, he was stationed on the Ukrainian front, near Majdanek. Horrified by what he witnessed, Tolkatchev spent a month painting scenes from within the newly liberated death camp. A member of the Polish-Soviet Nazi Crimes Investigation Commission supported Tolkatchev’s work and in November 1944, his exhibition of Majdanek paintings became one of the earliest artistic depictions to document publicly the Nazi death camps. When this portfolio was published soon after, in February 1945, the Polish Government sent copies to Allied Forces heads of states and government and military officers. Looking back on his work, Tolkatchev wrote, “I did what I had to do; I couldn’t refrain from doing it. My heart commanded, my conscience demanded.” Today these paintings are in the collection of the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem. [4], [8], [1] pp + 28 plates, 36X26cm. Good condition. Minor wear to the edges of some leaves. Stains and tears at margins of first few leaves (title pages and introductions). Professionally restored tears to first two leaves. Lacking the portfolio cover. Enclosed in a custom cloth-covered clamshell case.