Five issues of “L’Arc en Ciel” – “Keshet Be’Anan” – dropped from aircraft to the Belgian public by the United Nations Aviation during World War II, as part of the effort to establish direct communication with the civilian population in the occupied countries during the liberation of Europe from Nazi occupation – Reports on the progress of the Allied forces toward the defeat of the Nazi enemy, and on Nazi crimes in the occupied countries. Various months in 1944. In French and Dutch. Rare.
Issues:
August 7, 1944
April 21, 1944
April 28, 1944
May 5, 1944
July 28, 1944
The various issues report continuously on the progress of the Allied forces toward the defeat of the Nazi enemy, and on Nazi crimes in the occupied countries. In the August 1944 issue, a photograph of the crematorium at Majdanek appears for the first time, with the description: “The ovens of the dead in Lublin, Poland. The notorious concentration camp where the Germans massacred and burned hundreds of thousands of their victims.” Also in the issues before us: reports on mass executions of Jews carried out by SS personnel in the Flemish part of Belgium; Allied bombers dropped 5,000 tons of bombs on German airfields near the coasts of Belgium and the Netherlands; and in another article: 81,400 tons of bombs on enemy targets; liberated Normandy; Churchill visiting Italy ahead of the end of the war; repeated warnings to the civilian population in Germany, Belgium, and France to evacuate their homes in advance of massive Allied bombings: “Due to military necessity, we are forced to bomb, day and night, the enemy’s most vital communication centers, both in the occupied territories and in Germany itself. We made this grave military decision with great reluctance. We know that the intensification of our attacks may lead to risks for the civilian population near these targets, risks even greater than those faced so far.” As well: German prisoners of war being taken to POW camps in Italy; direct messages to civilians in the occupied countries: “The American Air Force is fighting for your liberation: We are attacking the enemy wherever he is – first in Germany; in the Balkans, in coordination with the Soviet Army; in Belgium and France. We know you are suffering under German occupation. We know that for four years now the enemy has subjected you to moral and physical oppression, lies, coercion, and hunger…”.
There are also articles describing the Allied victory – “A German army torn to shreds”, an article describing the collapse of “the myth of the invincible German”, and detailing the success of the Allied forces in the battles of Normandy and the German defeats in the areas of Caen, Avranches, Brest, and the Loire River region, the liberation of Paris, the Allied advance, and the loss of German control in France.
5 complete issues. Good condition.
