16 MOIS DE BAGNE BUCHENWALD – DORA N° 43.652 – Sixteen Months in Buchenwald-Dora, the diary of Buchenwald prisoner Alfred Untereiner (inmate number 43.652), written during his imprisonment in the camp and in the few months following his liberation. Published by R. DAUTELLE, Épernay (France), 1946 – First Edition. In French. Rare.
One of the earliest publications released at the end of the war, depicting the bestial behavior of the Nazis in the Buchenwald death camp, based on what Alfred personally saw and endured. Accompanied by harrowing photographs of the victims’ corpses as discovered by the Allies upon the liberation of the camp.
“We were completely exhausted. We had been standing for 48 hours. Around three in the morning, an SS man herded us like cattle, holding the dog chain, quickly, into the tunnel. I had the impression I was in hell. Along the way were emaciated corpses, naked or nearly so. Skeletal beings, with repulsive expressions, feverish sunken eyes, struggling… while their assailants spared no blows… On April 4, 1945, I left Dora by train, in a convoy of 100 or 150 cars. This time there was no roof above our heads. Rain and cold were our daily bread. For six days and six nights, the train traveled a perilous route and finally stopped about 10 km from the Bergen-Belsen extermination camp. A death march began on the ground. It was the final agony for many of them—since departure they had received no bread and no water. I owe my life to Paul Chandon-Motte, who carried me on his shoulder until we saw the U.S. Army advancing toward us…”.
The diary, published at the time, was part of a broad media campaign that accompanied the exposure of the Buchenwald atrocities through newspaper coverage, photographs, and newsreels released one after another at the end of the war. These reports from the camp were among the first revelations to the Western public of the horrors of the Nazi regime in Germany. (General George Patton forced some 2,000 residents of the city of Weimar to march five kilometers to the camp to witness the atrocities with their own eyes.)
In addition to the photographic and cinematic documentation, a U.S. Army psychological warfare intelligence unit collected numerous testimonies from prisoners. In the first days following liberation, around 150 testimonies were gathered, mostly from prisoners who had held various roles in the camp and could provide a broad picture of what had taken place.
The cover illustration, depicting a Muselmann prisoner kneeling under the weight of the German swastika, is the work of R. Chevittin (signed in the plate).
Rare. Only three copies are listed in the WorldCat global library catalog, all held in libraries in France.
140 [2] pp. Plates of photographs and drawings. Very good condition.
