Address Unknown by Kressmann Taylor – “Address Unknown will be read in less than half an hour-but it will be re membered for a lifetime”. The book that exposed the American public to the anti-Semitic and totalitarian nature of the Nazi regime, and the danger it posed, even before the outbreak of World War II. Published by Simon and Schuster. New York, 1939 – First Edition – Signed Copy by the Author. Hardcover with the Original Dust Jacket.
A novella written as a series of letters between the years 1932 and 1934, during the rise of the Nazis to power. The correspondence is between Max Einstein, a Jewish art dealer based in San Francisco, and his non-Jewish business partner, Martin Schulse, who returned to Germany in 1932 and resides in Munich. The letters reflect the unimaginable transformation of Germans from friends to enemies, as embodied in the correspondence itself—how the Jew’s close friend, Martin Schulse, gradually turns into his foe with the Nazis’ growing influence in Germany.
The correspondence is set against the backdrop of the Nazis’ rise to power. After initial letters exchanging greetings, Max inquires, “Who is this Adolf Hitler who seems to be rising to power in Germany? I don’t like what I’m reading about him.” His German friend replies, “You have, of course, heard about the recent events in Germany and will want to know how they affect us here on the inside. I’ll tell you honestly, Max, I think in many ways Hitler is good for Germany, but I am not sure. He is now the acting Chancellor. I greatly doubt that even Hindenburg can remove him from power now, as he was really forced to put him there. The man is like an electric shock, strong as only a great speaker and fanatic can be. But I wonder, is he quite sane? His brown-shirted soldiers are from the mob. They have looted and started the evil of beating Jews… They are getting sympathy everywhere; you feel it in the streets and shops…”
Martin continues to describe how he himself is swept up in the new wave of Hitlerism: “I am now a government clerk working under the new regime, and I shout aloud with great fervor. All of us clerks are rushing to join the National Socialists. That’s the name of Mr. Hitler’s party. But there is something more, a feeling that we in Germany have found our destiny and that the future is coming toward us in a powerful wave. We must move forward. We must go with it. Even now, injustices are being committed. The stormtroopers are having their moment of triumph…” On the other hand, Max replies that Aaron Silberman’s son has returned from Berlin and describes the atrocities committed by Hitler’s men. The correspondence becomes increasingly tense and direct as news from Germany reaches the United States. Martin does not hide his true feelings and writes, “In all honesty, I must say that I loved you, not because of your race but despite it.” He explains that the rebirth of Germany is intended to purify German blood and solve the Jewish problem as a whole. Max responds in shock, watching how his old friend Martin changes before his eyes after he justifies the burning of Jewish books as a justified event: “You are wrong; am I a liberal American? No! I am a German patriot… You say we are persecuting liberal thinkers, destroying libraries. You must wake up from your outdated sentimentality. Does a surgeon spare the cancer because he must cut to remove it? We are cruel. Of course, we are cruel. Just as every birth is cruel, so too is our rebirth. But we are joyful. Germany lifts her head high among the nations of the world. She follows her glorious leader to victory. What do you know of this, you who sit and dream? You have never met Hitler. He is a drawn sword. He is a white light, but as hot as the sun of a new day. I must insist you write no more. We are no longer friends, as we both must now understand. Martin Schulse.” The correspondence gradually fades due to Martin’s increasingly extremist nationalist views, until finally, in a letter that opens with the declaration “Heil Hitler, ” Martin informs Max that his Jewish sister, who was hidden in his home, was murdered by stormtroopers because he did not want to risk his life to protect a Jewess, adding that she “was very foolish to have come to Germany.” He urges Max to stop sending him letters for fear of censorship.
Kathrine Kressmann Taylor (1903–1996) an American author best known for this book. The correspondence presented here first appeared in Story magazine in 1938 and was published as a book in 1939. Upon its release, 50,000 copies were sold in the United States and much of Europe within ten days, and the entire print run of the first edition sold out. The novella was translated over the years into more than 20 languages, including a Dutch edition that was banned after the Nazis occupied the Netherlands, and a German edition printed in Moscow. In Germany, the book was banned throughout the Nazi regime. In 1995, when Kathrine was 91, “Address Unknown” was republished to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps. The book was translated into twenty languages, and the French edition sold 600,000 copies. In 2001, the book was published in Germany for the first time and was also translated into Hebrew. The Hebrew version became a bestseller and was adapted for the stage by Kibbutz Theater, filmed for television, and is sometimes shown on Holocaust Remembrance Day, presented to youth groups and guides of youth delegations to Poland. The republication of the book led to a late resurgence in Taylor’s career, and she spent her final years signing books, giving interviews, and lecturing until her death in 1996.
[92] pages. 19 cm. Tears with some losses in the dust jacket. The upper part of the dust jacket’s back cover is torn with some text damage. Otherwise in good condition.
