Beschreibung
Two quarto sheets (8 ¼" x 11 ¾"). 4pp. Mimeographed text with illustrations. Modest age-toning, small staple holes and a few scattered small tears and chips, very good. Only one issue published, complete as printed. (Included is a duplicate copy of the final sheet, in about very good condition with scatted foxing and soiling). An extraordinary newsletter printed by Slovenian Partisan survivors at Dachau shortly after the campy was liberated by the American Army: with unique and meaningful content, and several illustrations by Bo idar Pengov. The editor, Emil Smasek, and co-author Ludwig Mrzel employ a dark "Balkan Style" sense of humor to attack German atrocities and those directly responsible for them. They also celebrate the triumph of the survivor, who had suddenly been saved from the abyss and given a chance to return home, and they pay tribute to fallen friends and comrades. This is, as the subtitle reads, the: "First and hopefully farewell edition". Published on June 1, 1945, just over one month after the camp was liberated and put under American administration. Most of the surviving prisoners were obliged to remain in the camp for several weeks until being processed out. Not only did the Americans need to screen inmates for people deemed potential security threats to the Allies, it was also still unsafe or very difficult for inmates to return home. Several thousand liberated prisoners thus remained at Dachau, and the Americans promoted activities and diversions for the internees as they awaited their release. A small number of residents requested and were given the resources to publish their own rudimentary newsletters, giving rise to this newsletter created by Slovenian Partisan inmates. The newsletter employs both sarcastic and ironic humor, seeking to convey various messages, but in the main to lift the spirits of its readers: fellow survivors still at the camp. The content takes the form of short poems and articles on aspects of Dachau, as well as salvos directed against prominent pro-Axis Yugoslav collaborators, together with several entertaining illustrations by Bo idar Pengov. Of note are the poems directed against the *Domobranci* (Slovene Home Guard); the pro-Nazi Archbishop of Ljubljana, Gregorij Ro man; the Croatian Usta e leader Ante Pavelic?; the Slovenian general and Nazi collaborator Leon Rupnik; as well as the Croatian Usta e politician Vladko Mac?ek. The text expresses delight that all of these people are either on the run or on their way to the gallows. There is also a lengthy article about daily life in Dachau first written by survivor Ludwig Mrzel during the spring of 1944, in Bloc 24, but not published until this time. He describes how the number of prisoners at the camp had increased dramatically during the last year of the war, from 59,000 prisoners in 1944 to 150,000 when it was liberated. Also included is a mock advertisement for Dachau: "Large numbers of empty rooms and joined dormitories to let. Room for about 10,000 men, but more to be free soon. Warm places in the crematorium, a single bedroom in the bunker. Food measured by a German scientific method: spinach, turnip, kohlrabi, etc., with accountable calories and vitamins. Lifelong supply. Management of K. L. Dachau." The editor, Emil Smasek, joined the Partisans at the beginning of the war, but was imprisoned in Dachau in from 1942 to 1943, and then again from January 1945. At the camp he became a leader of the underground cultural-propaganda department of Yugoslav National Committee. He later became an acclaimed dramatist and author, involved in radio shows and puppet theatres. Ludwig Mrzel later became director of the National Theatre in Ljubljana. Bo idar Pengov, was interred at Dachau due to his association with the Partisans, and witnessed the many atrocities committed at the camp. *OCLC* locates only 2 copies in Slovenia. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 429661
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