Twenty two passports and documents chronicling the progress of the Mieses family from Europe to Palestine during the Holocaust period. Vienna, Antwerp, Toulouse, Madrid, Haifa and elsewhere, beginning-middle of the twentieth century.
The documents show that the family came from the city of Lviv in Poland, and in 1920 decided to immigrate to Vienna, where the father of the family opened a shoe store. After Austria's annexation to Germany in 1939 the family fled to Belgium and then to Grenade in the south of France, where it stayed until 1943. Somehow the family managed to cross the border to Spain, reaching Madrid, and in 1944 they set sail for Palestine and arrived in Haifa Port.This collection includes an interesting account of the various stops on the family's journey to Palestine:
1-2. Two German passports issued in Vienna for the parents, Nachman and Bronia Mieses, on February 15, 1939. Appearing on each is the stamp "J" (Jewish) and the additions "Israel" and "Sarah" to their names. Also appearing on the passports are stamps permitting free border crossings from February 17, 1939, and passport extension stamps from the German consulate in Antwerp, issued on April 10, 1940.
3. Austrian passport issued to Siegfried Mieses, son of Nachman and Bronia, on December 21, 1929. According to the stamps, the passport was used by Siegfried after Austria's annexation to Nazi Germany, and it is marked with special signs for Jews. The stamp "J" appears on the first page, and transit permits from Nazi Germany appear on the last pages. A cancellation stamp appears on every one of the passport's pages.
4. German passport issued to Siegfried at the German consulate in Antwerp (apparently immediately following the cancellation of his Austrian passport), on May 16, 1939. Stamped with the letter "J", with the addition of the middle name "Israel".
5. Confirmation of Submission of Request for Identity Card (Résépissé De Demande De Carte D'identite), issued to Nachman Mieses in Toulouse on January 26, 1942, with his picture and personal details (apparently used as a temporary residence permit in France). Appearing on verso are extension stamps from the city of Grenade in the south of France.
6-7. Two "Certificates of Identity" issued to the couple Bronia and Nachman by the British Consulate in Madrid on 20-21.5.1943. On the front of the certificates are their personal details and ink stamps of the consulate; on the back is a travel visa to Palestine, from 22.5.1943, permit stamps of the Spanish authorities, entry stamps to Palestine through Haifa from 4.2.1944 and additional stamps.
8-18. Eleven documents of members of the family from the pre-war period: birth certificates for Nachman and Siegfried from the Jewish community in Lviv, an Austrian certificate of citizenship from 1920, permit to engage in wholesale trade for Nachman Mieses, and other documents.
19-22. Four documents issued to the family members after the war: identity card for Bronia Mieses issued by the British Mandate government, from March 30, 1947; certificate of "Victim of the Nazi Regime" (Opferausweis) in the name of Siegfried Mieses, issued by the Austrian government on May 18, 1955; and others.
Total of 22 passports, documents and certificates. Size and condition vary. Good-fair overall condition. Stains, creases, folding marks and blemishes. Tears and open tears to some of the items (some of them restored).
Provenance: Rimon Family Collection.

Thirty-nine photographs, documenting the scenes revealed to the soldiers of the Allied Force upon the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. April-May 1945.
Most photographs are disturbing, documenting the camp's victims, the mass graves, the crematorium, the barracks, the survivors, the temporary showers constructed near the camp, soldiers in insulation suits evacuating victims of the typhus outbreak, burning the barracks and more. One photograph shows a large open area with a sign: "Grave No. 2, approx. 5,000, 23 April 1945".
A number of photographs appear in two copies. On the back of one photograph appears a long handwritten note (English), describing the photograph and referring to the number of victims after the liberation of the camp.
The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where approximately 50,000 people lost their lives, operated in Germany between the years 1943-1945. Due to the typhus epidemic in the camp, Himmler ordered not to evacuate it, and when the camp was liberated by British soldiers, the barracks, the buildings and tens of thousands of survivors were all still there. Over the weeks following the liberation, hundreds of survivors died every day and their burial was imposed on SS ex-soldiers. On May 21, 1945 the British burned the camp to the ground.
Size and condition vary. Approx. 9.5X7 cm – 14.5X10 cm. Good overall condition. Some stains and blemishes. Traces of pasting to back of some photographs. One photograph has tears at margins.

Tsurik fun Gehenem: 22 tseykhenungen fun Berl Fridler, mit a for-vort un tekst fun Paul Trepman [Back from Hell, 22 sketches by Berl Friedler, with a foreword and text by Paul Trepman]. Bergen-Belsen, 1947. Yiddish; English title page.
A booklet with twenty two impressive sketches documenting the holocaust atrocities; some in color. The sketches were created by Berl Friedler, a Bergen-Belsen survivor. The booklet opens with a foreword by Paul Trepman.
[23] leaves, 30X22 cm. Good overall condition. Most leaves are clean. Minor creases. Numerous stains to cover. Tear at margins of cover and spine (most of the spine is missing). Two ink-stamps, on the front cover and on the first page.

Jidiszer D. P. Lager, Unrra-P.C.IRO 1946-1948 in Bad Reichenhall [Jewish Displaced Persons Camp, UNRRA – International Refugees Organization 1946-1948 in Bad Reichenhall]. Album with 67 photographs. Bad Reichenhall, 1946-1948. Yiddish in Latin characters.
Album with 67 photographs (pasted to leaves), documenting the operation of aid organizations in the Tikwah displaced persons camp in Bad Reichenhall. The photographs are titled in print on the leaves and show, among others, the administrative staff, delegates of the Jewish Agency and the Eretz-Israeli Office, medical team, camp's rabbis, representatives of JNF, teachers in Tarbut and Yavne schools, classrooms, Talmud Torah in the camp, the kitchen staff, pharmacy, maternity room, courses held in Ort school (metalworking, sewing and tailoring), and more.
An illustration of a Star of David appears on the title page, with a photograph of the camp's gate; on the following page is a printed dedication: "Dedicated to the representatives of the Jewish Agency-Joint committee members and their colleagues, as a souvenir for their joint work with She'erit Hapletah". On the last page appears an additional dedication, for the recipients of the album: "…by giving you the album we hope that in the near future you will be home, in Eretz Israel, and with your brothers and sisters you will remember the hard days of She'erit Hapletah". A long introduction appears at the beginning of the album, with references to the content of the album, its uniqueness and the reasons for preparing it (all dedications are in Yiddish, in Latin characters).
Printed on the binding: "Tikwah, Jewish D.P. Camp in Bad Reichenhall". Leaves with photographs are protected with tissue guards.
Photographs: approx. 10.5X6.5 cm. Good condition. Album: approx. 28.5X21 cm. Slight stains and blemishes to leaves. Tears and open tears at the margins of first leaves, last leaf (not affecting text) and tissue guards. Rubbings and blemishes to binding. Cloth spine (not original).
Provenance: Rimon Family Collection.