Art of and about the Holocaust

A selections of titles depicting artistic interpretations and commemoration of the Holocaust. The early reactions issued straight out of the experience and the work that followed immediately after the war came out of efforts to include the trauma into a new normal life. Later work is more scholarly and dignified for the most part. However, raw reactions that sometimes come from later generations do sometimes surface. Some of all of the above can be found in the books below. All may be purchased if still available on the Hollander Books website.
 
Banasiewicz, Czeslaw Z., compiled and edited by. The Warsaw Ghetto: Drawings by Jozef Kaliszan. New York, Thomas Yoseloff, 1968. Quarto in mildly soiled dust jacket, 111 pp., b/w and duotone drawings. Kaliszan survived the Warsaw Ghetto. Hardbound. Very Good.  (73107)      $15.00

Berger, Eva; Jaehner, Inge; Junk, Peter; Kaster, Karl George; Meinz, Manfred and Zimmer, Wendelin. Felix Nussbaum: Art Defamed, Art in Exile, Art in Resistance. A Biography. Woodstock, New York, The Overlook Press, 1995. Fourth enlarged and fully revised edition of the catalogue for the exhibition of the same title, 6 May to 26 August 1990, Kulturgeschichtliches Museum Osnabrück. ISBN: 0-87951-789-1. Small quarto in dust jacket, 497 pp., b/w and color illustrations throughout, Concordance of Works Titles, List of Exhibitions, Bibliography, Locations, General Index, Photographs (credits).  Hardbound. Very Good. Edited by Karl Georg Kaster. Translated by Eileen Martin. With an afterword by Kaster, "The Reception of Felix Nussbaum's Work and Its Place in Art History." (50291)      $48.00

Blatter, Janet and Milton, Sybil. Art of the Holocaust. New York, The Rutledge Press, 1981. First Edition. ISBN: 0-8317-0418-7. Quarto in dust jacket, 272 pp., b/w and color illustrations throughout, artist biographies. Hardbound. Very Good. Historical Introduction by Henry Friedlander. Preface by Irving Howe. (64481)      $15.00

Dutlinger, Ann D., edited with an introduction by. Art, Music and Education as Strategies for Survival: Theresienstadt 1941-45. New York, Herodias, 2001. ISBN: 1-928746-10-1. Oblong royal octavo in dust jacket, xx, 204 pp., b/w and color illustrations, b/w photos, index. Hardbound. Very Good. Selected papers from ther symposium "Art, Music and Education as Strategies for Survival: Theresienstadt 1941-45," held at Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, February 10-11, 2000, and a catalog of the exhibition "The Arts as Strategies for Survival: Theresienstadt 1941-45 held at Payne Gallery of Moravian College, February 10 - March 5, 2000. Preface by Diane Radycki. Foreword by H.E. Alexander Vondra. Introduction: Art and Artists in Theresienstadt: Questions of Survival, by Dutlinger. Essays are "Art in the Context of Theresienstadt," Sybil Milton, "Coming of Age in Thersienstadt: Friedl's Girls from Room 28," by Honnelore Wonschick and Dutlinger, translated by Ian Pepper, "Friedl Dicker-Brandeis"Art, Music and Education as Strategies for Survival: Theresienstadt 1941-45: Lady in a Car," Michaela Hajkova, "Holocaus Survival and the Spirit of the Bauhaus," Susan Leshnoff, "A Carousel of Theatrical Performances in Thersienstadt," Rebecca Rovit, "The Genocide of the Czech Jews in World War II and the Terezin Ghetto," Vojtech Blodig, "Chronology of Thersienstadt," Milton, The Children, "Terezin Memorial: A Short History," Blodig. Afterword: "Moravian College and the Legacy of Comenius Peter Rafaeli," Honorary Consul-General of the Czech Republic - Philadelphia. (22632)      $30.00

Ellia, Linda. Notre Combat. Paris, Editions du Seuil, 2007. French Edition. ISBN: 978-2020-962186. Royal octavo, paper covers, 400 pp., [pp. 23-377 comprise the altered pages from French edition of Mein Kampf], two pages of color photos, list of interviewees, in an illustrated slip-case with a fold-over cover. Signed by the artist and with a drawing on the title-page in felt pen. Hardbound. Very Good. Text is in French. Linda Ellie produced this collection taking pages from the French edition of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. She produced a certain number of altered pages in an edition of Mein Kampf that came into her hands. She then found many other people to participate in her project which ultimately produced this larger body of work. (70271)      $60.00

Fisch, Robert O. Light From the Yellow Star: A Lesson of Love from the Holocaust. Minneapolis, Minnesota, Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1994. ISBN: 1-885116-00-4. Quarto in dust jacket, 40 pp., color illustrations. Fisch was born Budapest, Hungary and survived deportation. Hardbound. Very Good.  (7481)      $15.00

Frank, Janos. Aldozatok es Gyilkosok/ Victims and Perpetrators: Ilka Gedo's Ghetto Drawings and Gyorgy Roman's Drawings of the People's Court War Criminal Trials. Budapest, Hungary, Cultural Exchange Foundation, 1995. Quarto, decorative paper covers, 122 pp., b/w drawings throughout, bibliography of the artists, bibliography. Gedo's illustrations are portraits in charcoal. Very Good. In English and Hungarian (14801)     $30.00

Godfrey, Mark. Abstraction and the Holocaust. New Haven, Conn., Yale University Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-300-12676-1. Small quarto in dust jacket, x, color frontispiece photo, 294 pp., color and b/w photos, notes, bibliography, photograph credits, index. Hardbound. Very Good. Abstraction art can be painfully hermetic. Art that addresses the Holocaust through abstraction can be no less hermetic. Godfrey opens up the efforts of various abstract artists to deal with the Holocaust. Chapters are: Introduction: Abstraction and the Holocaust ; Morris Louis' Charred Journal: Firewritten paintings, 1951; Barnett Newman's The Stations of the Cross: Lema Sabachthani, 1958-1966; Frank Stella's Polish Village series, 1970-1974; Louis's Kahn's Memorial to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs, 1966-1972; Beryl Korot's Dachau 1974; Mel Bochner's Via Tasso project, 1993; The Commissions in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1993; Conclusion: Peter Eisenman's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, 1997-2005, and Susan Hiller's The J.Street Project, 2002-2005. (56612)      $18.00

Kleeblatt, Norman, edited by. Mirroring Evil: Nazi Imagery/ Recent Art. New York and New Brunswick, New Jersey, The Jewish Museum and Rutgers University Press, 2001. ISBN: 0-8135-2960-3. Quarto, glossy paper covers, xviii, 164 pp., b/w and color illustrations, artist biographies, contributors, bibliography, credits. Softbound. Very Good. Director's Preface by Joan Rosenbaum. Foreword: Looking into the Mirrors of Evil by James E. Young. Articles are "The Nazi Occupation of the White Cube: Transgressive Images/ Moral Ambiguity/ Contemporary Art," Kleeblatt, "Acts of Impersonation: Barbaric Spaces as Theater," Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, "Childhood, Art, and Evil," Ellen Handler Spitz, "'Avant-Garde and Kitsch' Revisited: On the Ethics of Representation," Lisa Saltzman, "Playing the Holocaust," Ernst van Alphen, "Playing it Safe?: The Display of Transgressive Art in the Museum," Reesa Greenberg." Reflection on the Works of Art are "Keeping One's Hands Clean: Six Commissioned Portraits of a Perpetrator. Christine Borland's L'Homme Double, 1997." "Male Fantasies of Hitler: Confusing Gender and Identity. Roee Rosen's 'Live and Die as Eva Braun,' 1995" "Transforming Images into Symbols: Mischa Kuball's 'Hitler Cabinet,' 1990, "The Conflation of Good and Evil: Piotr Uklanski's 'The Nazis,' 1998," "A Feminist Rejoinder to Uklanski's 'The Nazis': Elke Krystufek's 'Economical Love' Series, 1998," "Impersonating the Victim: Consorting with History. Alan Schechner's 'Barcode to Concentration Camp Morph,' 1994 and 'It's the Real Thing - self-Portrait at Buchenwald, 1993," "Impossible Bedfellows: Adolf Hitler and Marcel Duchamp. Rudolf Herz's 'Zugswang,' 1995," "The Villain Speak's the Victim's Language. Boaz Arad's 'Safam,' 2000 and 'Marcel Marcel,' 2000," "Fascinating Fascism: Then and Now? Maciej Toporowicz's 'Eternity #14,' 1991," "Mirror's of Innocence and Violence: Alain Sechas 'Enfants Gates,' 1997," "Zbigniew Libera's 'Lego Concentration Camp Set,' 1996" "Fashioning Terror. Tom Sachs 'Giftgas Giftset,' 1998 and 'Prada Deathcamp' 1998," and "Staging Depravity. Mat Collishaw's 'Burnt Almonds (Gustav and Helga),' 2000." (28059)
An essential text in the discussion of the Art of the Holocaust.    $12.50

Kovner, Abba. Scrolls of Fire: A nation fighting for its life. Fifty-two chapters of Jewish Martyrology. Jerusalem, Keter Publishing House for Beth Hatefutsoth, The Nahum Goldman Museum of Jewish Diaspora, 1981. Quarto in dust jacket, 124 pp., color illustrations of the paintings by Dan Reisinger. Hardbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew with an English translation by Shirley Kaufman and Dan Laor. Kovner's poetry is illustrated by abstract painting often including Hebrew letters as elements within the abstraction. (73108)      $15.00

Milton, Sybil &  with photographs by Ira Nowinski. In Fitting Memory: The Art and Politics of Holocaust Memorials. Detroit, Michigan, Wayne State University Press, in cooperation with the Judah L. Magnes Memorial Musuem, Berkeley, 1991. First Edition. ISBN: 0-8143-2066-X. Oblong royal octavo in dust jacket, 342 pp., b/w photos, annotated bibliography, selected list of Holocaust Memorial Sites, technical notes about the photographs, index. Hardbound. Very Good. A critical survey of Holocaust memorials and monuments in Europe, Israel, and the United States, focusing on the archeological remains at the original sites of Nazi terror which constitute the first postwar memorials. This first study of the institutionalization of public memory, demonstrates how various nations, politicians, and designers have attempted to do justice to this subject in public art and sculpture, and shows how national origin, ethnic allegiance, political ideology, and prevailing artistic style determined how memorials were commissioned and installed. (29635)      $39.95

Novitch, Miriam; Davidowicz, Lucy and Freudenheim, Tom L., with essays by. Spiritual Resistance: Art from Concentration Camps 1940 - 1945. A selection of drawings and paintings from the collection of Kibbutz Lohamei Haghetaot, Israel. Philadelphia, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1981. First Edition. Quarto in dust jacket with slight edgewear, 237 pp., b/w photos and color and b/w drawings, maps, additional biographies and other biographical matter, two ownership ink stamps on the front endpaper and one on the edge. Hardbound. Very Good. Forewird by Leonard A. Schoolman. Essays are "The Art Collection of the Ghetto Fighters' House," Miriam Novitch, "The Holocaust Landscape," Lucy S. Davidowicz, "Art from Concentration Camps," Tom L. Freudenheim. (69489)      $20.00

Spett, Martin. Reflections of the Soul: Martin Spett's Holocaust Experiences. [New York], The Manhattan College Holocaust Resource Center, 2002. Quarto, paper covers, 67 pp., color illustrations. Softbound. Very Good. Edited by Jeff Horn. (70035) Spett was from Tarnow, Poland and survived the Tarnow Ghetto and Bergen-Belson.    $12.50

Russian Literature in Russian

Some Russian literature titles. To understand Modern Hebrew Literature and Soviet Yiddish Literature an understanding of Russian literature is essential. I wish my Russian was better. Russian literature certainly provided many of my most important early literary pleasures. All of these titles can be ordered through the Hollander books website if they are still available.


Belkin, Dmitrij. >>Gäste, die bleiben"" Vladimir Solov'ev die Juden und die Deutschen. Hamburg, Philo, 2008. ISBN: 978-3-86572-624-7. Octavo, glossy paper covers, 424 pp., b/w photos, bibliography, short biographies, index. Gift inscription on the free front endpaper. Softbound. Very Good. Text is in German. (73103)      $20.00

Bely, Andrey. Masterstvo Gogolia: issledovaniia. Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ardis reprint of the 1934 edition, 1982. Octavo , paper covers, xvi, 324 pp., errata. Hardbound. Very Good. Text is in Russian. (73095)      $35.00

Bely, Andrey. Stikhotvoreniia i poemy: Sobranie Sochinenii. Moscow, Izdatelstvo "Respublika", 1994. ISBN: 5-250-02477-7. Octavo in dust jacket, frontispiece poetry, 559 pp. Hardbound. Very Good. Text is in Russian. Edited by V. Piskunov. (73093)     $40.00

Chudakova, M.O., Toddes, E.A., Tsivyan, Yu. G., edited by. Tynyanovskii sbornik: Vip. 10. Shestye - Sedmye - Vosmye: Tynyanovskie Chteniya. Moscow, 1998. Octavo, paper covers with a crease at the top corner of the front cover, 914 pp., a couple of fold out facsimiles of manuscripts. Softbound. Very Good-. Text is in Russian. (73099)     $50.00

Ermakov, Ivan Dmitrievich. Etiudy po psikhologii tvorchestva A.S. Pushkina: opyt organicheskogo ponimaniia "Domika v Kolomne", "Proroka" i malenkikh tragedii. Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ardis reprint of the original 1923 edition, 1980. Octavo, paper covers, 196 pp. Softbound. Very Good. Text is in Russian. (73102)     $75.00

Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeevich. Tainye zapiski 1836-1837 godov. Minneapolis, Minnesota, M.I.P. Company, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-916201-29-6. Octavo, green cloth with gold lettering, 974 pp., index. Hardbound. Very Good. Text is in Russian. Edited by Mikhail Armalinskii and Kurochkin. (73106)     $80.00

Shonagon, Sei. Zapiski u Izgolovia. Moscow, Khudozh Literatura, 1975. Small octavo, tan cloth with gold and black lettering with an illustration in purple, black and gray, 368 pp. Hardbound. Very Good. Translated into Russian from the Japanese by Vera N. Markova. (73098)     $15.00

Sologub, Fyodor. Neizdannyi Fedor Sologub: [stikhi, dokumenty, memuary]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 1997. ISBN: 5-86793-018-1. Octavo, printed cloth covered boards, 576 pp., b/w photos, bibliography, chronology, index. Hardbound. Very Good. Text is in Russian. Edited by I.C. Timchenko. (73094)     $60.00

Hebrew Literature - Selections August 2014

A selection of titles that caught my particular interest in a large group on new Hebrew literature titles.

Asheri, Ehud. Nefesh ahot/ Sister Soul. Jerusalem, Keter, 2001. Octavo, paper covers with flaps, 310 pp. Softbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew. (72786)     $15.00
Asheri is a columnist for Ha-Aretz who writes about politics and culture.

Avidan, David. Avidaniyum 20: metav shirim, tisdorot, mismakhim vekhu' 1965-1985/ Avidanium 20: Select Poems, Transmissions, Documents etc. 1965-1985. Jerusalem, Keter, 1987. Octavo, paper covers in dust jacket, 296 pp. Softbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew. (72838)     $25.00
David Avidan was one of the Israeli poets of the sixties and seventies who showed  great originality in their use of the Hebrew language. He was well known for the introduction of sexuality and drug imagery. He made a few films, but as time went by his financial impoverishment cause a physical decline. He still has not received anything like the acknowledgement that he deserves.


Kartun-Blum, Ruth, edited with notes and a foreword. Shirah bi-re'i Atsmah/ Poetry as its Own Mirror: An Anthology. Tel Aviv, Mosad Byalik, 1982. Octavo, paper covers with flaps, 95 pp. Softbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew. (72862)      $20.00
Kartun-Blum was educated in the US at UCLA (probably studying with Alan Mintz) and went on to become head of the literature department at Hebrew University. She is one of the figures that introduced modern critical theory and feminism into Israeli literary scholarship. She became an emeritus professor in 2006.

Keller, Ricky [Kritz, Reuven R.]. Shatim peshutim: sipur ahavah. Tel Aviv, Sifre Gat, 1979. Narrow octavo, paper covers, 259 pp. Softbound. Very Good-. Text is in Hebrew. (72832)     $18.00
In addition to his novel's Kritz is a historian and critic of Hebrew literature, though not the most prominent.

Orpaz, Yitshak. Nemalim/ Ants: a Novel. Tel Aviv, Am Oved, 1968. Duodecimo, paper covers with flaps, 104 pp. Hardbound. Very Good-. Text is in Hebrew. (72861)     $15.00
Orpaz immigrated from the Soviet Union in the Mandate period after fighting with British Forces. He did not publish his first novel until the late 1950s but still fits in with the Independence era writers.
Pagis, Dan. Milim nirdafot: shirim/ Double Exposure. Tel Aviv, Ha-Kibuts Ha-Meuhad, 1982. Octavo, paper covers, 76 pp. Softbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew. (31898)     $20.00
Pagis is as well known for his own verse as he is for his studies in Medieval Hebrew poetry. He survived the holocaust in Romania before making aliyah. 

Pagis, Dan. Gilgul: Shirim. Ramat Gan, Agudat Ha-Sofrim Ha-Ivrim ba-Yisrael le-yad Hotsaat Masada, 1970. Octavo, paper covered boards, 67 pp. Hardbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew. (32351)     $25.00

Pagis, Dan. Moah. Tel Aviv, Ha-Kibuts Ha-Meuhad, 1975 [1977]. Octavo, paper covers with flaps, 61 pp., bibliography, index. Hardbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew. (73087)      $15.00

Ravikovitch, Dalia. Ha-Sefer ha-shelishi: shirim. Tel Aviv, Modan - A Levin-Epstein, c. 1969. Octavo in dust jacket, 64 pp. Hardbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew. (72878)     $25.00
An obituary from the Guardian does a fine job of summarizing the wide ranging career of Ravikovitch one on Israeli central poetic voices.
Vogel, David. Nokhah ha-yam: novelah/ Facing the Sea: Novella. Tel Aviv, M. Nyuman, 1974. Oblong small octavo, paper covers with flaps, 75 pp. Softbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew. (72860)     $18.00
Vogel, a Russian Jew, died in the holocaust. He wrote in both Hebrew and Yiddish. This particular work was originally composed during the time that he was interned by the French as an Austrian citizen.

Wieseltier, Meir. Kah: Shirim 1969-1972. Tel Aviv, Mifalim Universitayim, Sifre Siman Keriah, 1973 [1977].. Octavo, paper covers with flaps, 100 pp., b/w drawings. Softbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew. (72833)     $22.00
In addition to Wieseltier's work as a poet and translator of poetry he is also an editor for Siman Keriah and for the publisher Am Oved. 

Wieseltier, Meir. Davar optimi, asiyat shirim/ Something Optimistic, The making of Poems: With 10 etchings by Yacov Dorchin. Tel Aviv, Zmora, Bitan - Publishers, 1984. Octavo, illustrated paper covered boards, 140 pp., etchings by Yacov Dorchin. Hardbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew. (72920)     $35.00

Yeshurun, Avot. Kapelah kolot: shirim/ Kapela Kolot: Poems. Tel Aviv, Sifre Siman Kriyah, 1977. Squarish octavo, shelf-worn paper covers with flaps, 119 pp. Hardbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew. (72872)     $25.00
Yeshurun (Yehiel Perlmutter) was born in the Ukraine in 1904 and made aliyah in 1925. His original language was Yiddish. His writing in Hebrew never abandoned his early Yiddish and came to include the Arabic and the slang of Mandate Palestine as well. He employed his own neologisms and mashed words together. His approach was a thorough modernism. He lost the remainder of his European family in the holocaust and experienced a pervasive guilt thereafter.

Zakh, Natan [Zack, Nathan]. Shirim shonim. Jerusalem, Ha-Kibuts Ha-Meuhad, 1974. Small octavo, paper covers with flaps, 128 pp.  Softbound. Very Good. Text is in Hebrew. (72808)   $18.00
Zack emigrated from Germany as a child in 1936. He was another major figure in Israeli Modernism. He innovated Hebrew rhyme and meter introducing new ideas from outside the Hebrew language. He was an active translator of a more forward-looking selection of foreign authors. He edited the poetry journal Akhshav. Your hapless bookseller happened into a small bookshop off of Rabin Square in Tel Aviv with the bookseller's professor brother and found the bookseller engaged a jovial conversation with an older man in an easy-chair by the counter. The bookseller's brother grabbed the bookseller by the neck of his shirt and dragged him to the back of the shop in order to inform the bookseller that the old fellow was Natan Zack and that the bookseller had better keep his mouth shut and not embarrass the professor. Just one more encounter with greatness for the bookseller.