"Begerush Kafrisin" [In the Cyprus Exile], album with twenty-six linocuts portraying the life of She'erit Hapletah in Cyprus detention camps, by art students, exiles in Cyprus, tutored by Naftali Bezem. Cyprus, [ca. 1948].
On the first leaf is a handwritten note: "this book was prepared by art students at the Instructors' seminar and was printed and bound by the students in 120 copies". A dedication appears on this page: "for Moshe Brachman, in memory of Cyprus days, with appreciation and respect, Baruch Rubinstein for the instructors' seminar in Cyprus camps. 1948". Brachman, one of the heads of the "Committee for Cyprus Exiles", visited the camps in March 1948.
The album opens with a short quote from the will and testament of Pinhas Rutenberg: "… We will be brothers in life, in creating, in action, and in building". On the following page is a short introduction: "Cyprus is one stop on the road of suffering en route to The Land of Israel. For Jews it meanes barbed wire fences, enforced idleness and being condemned to atrophy, but even within this reality, life is thriving. Of these it is told in this book by members of the camp of Israel in the Cyprus exile". These two leaves, and the list of prints appearing on the last leaf, are also linocuts.
The Pinchas Ruthenberg Seminar, financed by the JDC, operated in the Cyprus deportation camps from mid-1947 to 1949. The seminar offered diverse courses, and teachers were brought to Cyprus to instruct the classes. Among the teachers were artists (Naftali Bezem, Zeev Ben-Zvi and others) who instructed art workshops.
[29] leaves, 49 cm. Good-fair condition. Original binding with a linocut. Minor blemishes and stains. Tear to front endpaper. Loose binding. Stains, tears and blemishes to binding.

Souvenir plaque from Cyprus detention camps. [1946-1949].
Wood marquetry.
Seen on the plaque are a watch tower and the bridge which connected the two blocks of "Winter Camps" – detention camps no. 64-69 which were located on the east and west side of the Famagusta-Larnaca road. The word "Cyprus" is seen under the bridge.
Approx. 17X11 cm. Good condition. Slight damage to wood.
Provenance: Rimon Family Collection.

A dozen photographs of detainees and policemen at the Atlit detention camp. 1940s.
Photos include: female illegal immigrants from the ship Haviva Reik hanging laundry on barbed-wire fences; nurses vaccinating new detainees at the camp; doctors from the Jewish Agency performing medical inspections; five photographs from the estate of a Jewish policeman posted at the camp – photographs with policemen, a photograph with illegal immigrants, planting a tree near the camp fence and more; photographic portraits of children held at the camp; and more.
Four of the photographs are press photos, with ink stamps of press agencies and printed information notes on verso (in English). One photograph is divided on the back to be used as a postcard, with a handwritten inscription: "Souvenir, clearance camp Atlit, 14.4.1942".
Size and condition vary. Good overall condition. Minor blemishes. One photograph with ink marks.
Provenance: Rimon Family Collection.

Seven photographs of "Ole HaGardom" Avshalom Haviv and five photographs of his family members, during official memorial ceremonies. Jerusalem and other places, ca. 1930s through 1970s.
Among the photographs: a photograph of Avshalom with his family from his childhood; photograph of Avshalom and his sister Ruth, building a snowman on the roof of their house in Jerusalem; Avshalom in Palmach uniform on the beach; portrait photograph of Avshalom and his brother Israel; two photographs of Zalman Shazar shaking the hand of one family member (most probably Avshalom's father, Eliezer); two photographs of Menachem Begin and the family members; and more.
Two photographs appear in two copies. Six photographs are titled and dated on the back. Ink stamps on the back of three photographs.
Avshalom Haviv (1926-1947), Palmach and Etzel (Irgun) member, one of the ten underground activists sentenced to hanging by the British ("Olei HaGardon"). Haviv participated in numerous operations (among them the release of illegal immigrants from Atlit detention camp, attack on British secret police offices and bombing of the Goldschmidt British officers' club). On May 4, 1947 he was arrested together with four of his friends while breaking into the Acre prison. During his trial, Haviv refused to acknowledge the authority of the court, rejected the offer for legal defense and instead asked to read a long declaration, voicing his stands and beliefs. On July 29, at four o'clock in the morning, Haviv was taken from his cell and was led to the gallows singing "HaTikva".
Enclosed: three portrait photographs of Avshalom's brother, Israel Haviv; three invitations to ceremonies and official occasions in memory of "Olei HaGardom"; booklet commemorating "Olei HaGardom" issued by the Tel-Aviv-Jaffa Municipality; certificate of appreciation on behalf of "Misdar al shem Zeev Jaborinsky" awarded to the author Aryeh Eshel, following the publication of his book about Avshalom.
12 photographs (two appear in two copies). Size and condition vary. Good overall condition. Stains and blemishes (mostly slight). One photograph has four pinholes at the corners.

Eighteen letters, telegrams, photographs and paper items from the internment camps of Irgun and Lehi exiles in Africa. Gilgil (Kenya), Asmara (Eritrea), Carthago (Sudan), Tel Aviv and Johannesburg, 1945-1948 [most of the letters are from the camp at Gilgil, from 1948].
Items include:
• Letter from May 11, 1945, sent by eleven mayors of Jewish cities and towns in Palestine to the High Commissioner John Vereker, with an urgent request to transfer the inmates of the African camps back to Palestine. Stamped with ink stamps and signed by each of the mayors of the following cities: Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Rishon LeTzion, Petah Tikva, Petah Tikva (rural area), Bat Yam, Kfar Saba, Holon, Ra'anana, Herzliya and Afula. Typewritten on official stationery of the "Union of Local Councils".
• Letter from March 28, 1948, sent by the "camp representative" at Gilgil, Shmuel M. Katzenelson (Shmuel Tamir) to a member of the Tel Aviv Municipality, H. Ariav. The letter expresses the apprehension of the detainees following the arrival in Kenya of the English officer Roy Farran, murderer of Alexander Rubowitz, accompanied by two deserters from the English army.
• Four handwritten letters sent by detainees at the Gilgil camp to Palestine in February-April 1948. The letters concern life in the camps, receiving newspapers and news from Palestine, sports competitions, the visit to the camp by Chief Rabbi of South Africa Louis Isaac Rabinowitz, and other topics. One of the letters is addressed to the "Le'Asireinu" ("For Our Prisoners") Society (which assisted Jewish prisoners and detainees), concerning the "disappearance" of moneys sent to detainees.
• Telegram sent from Tel Aviv in March 1948 by Rabbi Louis Rabinowitz to the Jewish inmates at Gilgil camp. The telegram tells of a U.N. resolution to return the inmates to Palestine no later than May 15, 1948.
• Certificate issued to Irgun member Chaim Tsines on behalf of the "Exile Camp Representatives". The certificate attests that Tsines "was detained at the Zion Exiles camp in Kenya and left for the homeland with the last exiles". It is dated on the bottom: "Eve of the closing of the Gilgil exile camp, 27 Sivan [June 4] 1948". Marked with an ink stamp of the "Directorate of the Jewish Exile Camp, Kenya".
• In Exile at Asmara, Quarantine Camp, Asmara, Eritrea. 22 Nissan (April 23) 1946. Issue no. 124. Single leaf in handwriting, in newspaper format – review of an attack on military camps and courts in Palestine, report on the proposal to return Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini to Lebanon, the burial of one of the detainees and other topics. Written on the reverse of a certificate used by the Italian army.
• In Exile in Sudan [...] Cathago Internment Camp, Sudan Desert. 4 Nissan (March 18) 1945. Issue no. 38 (107). Two leaves, typewritten and mimeographed, in newspaper format – review of the capture of detainees who had escaped from the camp, the inauguration of a Torah scroll at the camp synagogue, news from the war fronts in Europe and other topics.
• Two uncut sheets, one in Hebrew and the other in English, of notes with propaganda slogans protesting the deportation of Jews to African camps.
• Two group photographs of detainees at the Asmara camp.
• And more.
Enclosed: two envelopes of letters sent by detainees at the Gilgil camp in 1948, one to Palestine and the other to Paris.
Size and condition vary. Good-fair overall condition. Stains. Folding marks, filing holes, tears and open tears (mostly small and restored) to some items.
Provenance: Rimon Family Collection.