Two notebooks handwritten by Bernhard Haas, Jewish immigrant from Germany, who was detained in several British detention camps in Palestine. Atlit and Haifa, February-April 1944. German and some Hebrew.
The date and place of writing are recorded on the first page of each notebook: Camp 195, Haifa, February 1944 / Camp 119, Atlit-Haifa, April 1944. The first notebook opens with a brief journal portraying Haas's life story until his arrest. His childhood in Giessen, being orphaned of both his parents, the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany, his voyage to Palestine from the Trieste seaport, his studies in the Mikveh Israel agricultural school, his conscription to the British Army and his arrival in the detention camp. The rest of the notebook comprises transcripts of letters (mostly of romantic content; some were sent from the Latrun detention camp and from the Kurdani camp) and transcripts of poems, some of which were composed by Haas himself.
Two notebooks. [1], 118; [24] written pages. Good condition. Stains, small holes and minor blemished to covers.