LES TÉMOINS QUI SE FIRENT ÉGORGER – “The Slaughtered Witnesses, ” published by ÉDITIONS DÉFENSE DE LA FRANCE, by members of the French underground (most of whom write here anonymously). France, 1946 – numbered edition, copy no. 712 of 1,200 copies issued, with the distinctive Star of David emblem on the cover – from the copies sent to the families of the victims after the war. A rare publication about some of the senior members of the French underground who saved thousands during the war through clandestine activity, and were deported to the death camps to their deaths. French.
A collection of testimonies about senior figures in the well-oiled structure of the French underground during the war years, who saved thousands, were captured at some point during the war, and were sent to their deaths in the death camps. Each testimony is accompanied by a photograph of the individual and a description of their underground activity, how they were captured by the Nazis, the camp to which they were deported, their experiences in the camp, and the day of their murder. The first part focuses on the heroic actions of the underground fighters, including photographs of many of them and the various ways in which they worked to save others from the Nazi enemy. The second part deals with their fate in the camps – how they were captured by the Gestapo, the camp to which they were sent, their experiences in the camp until their execution.
The booklet provides previously unknown details about the operations of the underground movements in France – how the vast network of clandestine press functioned, the massive enterprise of document forgery that saved thousands of Jews, and the efforts made to hide children from the death roundups. It documents hand-to-hand combat between members of the underground and Gestapo agents in factories and public places, where the underground had received information in advance about the planned arrival of Nazi forces on a specific date and at a specific time. It recounts the heroic story of the printers Pons and Finda, who operated in the service of the underground and specialized in forging Gestapo stamps, issuing hundreds of forged passports for Jews, which enabled them to leave France under the watchful eye of the Vichy regime. Also included is the story of resistance fighters who managed to transmit messages to the Allies with great skill via radio waves, using the rare art of identifying and sending over the secret frequency; the extensive activity network of “the hiders” who helped Allied pilots shot down over French soil find hiding places; fascinating details about the inner workings of the Défense de la France forgery workshop, which at its peak issued nearly one million forged identity cards (the booklet provides detailed descriptions of the forgery method, including the use of dozens of forged rubber stamps); and more.
In the second part, under the title: “How We Lived, How We Died in the Camps, ” there are detailed testimonies by underground members who survived, about their comrades who were executed in the various death camps across the Nazi-occupied countries, as one of them describes: “The humiliation of the victim, the added disfigurement to suffering, the abuse of a person even to the point of martyrdom—this pathological perversion, revealed against a backdrop of inherent cruelty, is indeed the specific trait of Nazism.” This section contains horrifying documentation of the torture endured by prisoners at the hands of the Nazis in the camps of Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen, Auschwitz, Majdanek, Dachau, and others, up to their final day. Under the heading: “Testimonies of Terror, ” countless harrowing testimonies are presented one after the other, describing unimaginable abuse of prisoners, including of newborn children. (“At Majdanek, there was a blood-soaked post upon which the heads of newborn children in the camp were smashed—but that was still not the worst thing that happened at Majdanek…”). This section includes many harsh passages and harsh photos of the emaciated prisoners in the camps, Gestapo torture installations, the bodies of the victims, as well as a large fold-out map of the death camps. These photographs were supplied to the editorial team by French and American photo agencies.
217 pages. Printed on plain paper due to the postwar paper shortage. Light stains on the cover. Otherwise in very good condition.
