An album with about 50 photographs documenting the Theresienstadt Ghetto as witnessed by soldiers of the Red Army during its liberation. Theresienstadt, [May 1945; a few later or earlier photographs].
The Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the Nazis in 1941 near the town of Terezin in Czechoslovakia. It was run by the SS, the prisoners suffering from overcrowding, starvation, and disease. In preparation for a visit of an investigative commission of the International Red Cross, the Germans decided to turn Theresienstadt into a "model ghetto": stores, a coffee house, a bank and a school were opened, and gardens were planted in the ghetto. Later, a propaganda film (Theresienstadt. Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet) was made in the ghetto, screened for representatives of the Red Cross. Not long after the production was completed, most of the prisoners of the ghetto were deported to extermination camps.
This album documents the ghetto upon its liberation by the Red Army. The photographs depict survivors receiving first treatment in a yard, the victims as they were found after the liberation, the gallows, the graves, paper boxes with ashes of victims (some with name labels), the private swimming pool built by prisoners for the camp commander's children and more (many of the photographs are highly graphic and explicit).
Several photographs at the beginning and end of the album depict other people and events: portrait photographs of two of the camp commanders – Heinrich Jöckel and Stefan Rojko and photographs from a state funeral ceremony held for the victims in September 1945, attended by Jan Masaryk.
The photographs are mounted in the album. Most of them are captioned on printed notes (Czech). Several of the photographs in the album are found in the archive of the Czech photography agency ČTK, whose photographer Josef Vosolsobe visited the camp on May 9, 1945.
Approx. 13X8.5 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes. Size of album: approx. 32X23 cm. The leaves and some of the photographs are numbered by hand. Stains and small tears to edges of tissue guards. The binding is slightly worn.

Der Bericht des Jüdischen Rettungskomitees aus Budapest 1942-1945, Vorgelegt von Dr. Rezsö Kasztner [The report of the Jewish Rescue Committee of Budapest 1942-1945, Submitted by Dr. Rezsö Kasztner] [Switzerland or Budapest?]: Vaadat Ezra Vö-Hazalah Bö-Budapest, [1946]. German. during World War II, submitted by Rezsö (Israel) Kastner to the first Zionist congress to take place after the Holocaust, convened in Basel in 1946
Report (mimeographed typescript) on the activity of the Jewish Aid and Rescue Committee in Budapest. Classified "Confidential" on the cover.
The report, compiled by Kastner shortly after World War II, contains an extensive description of the Holocaust in Hungary, a review of the activity of the Jewish Aid and Rescue Committee and a documentation of the efforts to organize the departure of the "Rescue Train" from Hungary to Switzerland. The report includes several copies of affidavits and letters of recommendation in favor of Kastner, describing his activity for the Jews of Hungary and the financial help he provided to Jews incarcerated in the Theresienstadt Ghetto.
This report was instrumental in Kastner's acquittal after his assassination in Tel-Aviv in March 1957, following a court decision in 1955 according to which "Kastner sold his soul to the devil" and collaborated with the Nazis. The report was translated to Hebrew and published in the early 1980s by the Society for the Commemoration of Israel Kastner.
[1], XIII, 1-15, 15a, 16-191, [6] leaves (printed on one side only), approx. 30 cm. Good condition. Some stains to margins. New, elegant binding, with the original front cover. The original back cover is missing.