VOLAVKOVÂ, Hana (author). Jeanne NÉMCOVÁ (translator). Children’s Drawings from the Concentration Camp of Terezín. [Olomuc, Czechoslovakia.] SZM [Státní Zidovské Museum: Moravské tiskarské závody]. [1978.]

Small 4to.; original pictorial wrappers printed in colours, stapled; pp. 38; illustrated in both half-tones and colour, including 10 full-page coloured plates; a near fine copy.

First edition thus, abridged English edition. Originally published in 1959 in an 80-page production.

A heart-rending selection of children’s poems and drawings reflecting their experiences and surroundings (hopes and dreams) in Terezin Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia between 1942 and 1944.

Terezin, was a World War II concentration camp situated 30 miles north of the capital Prague, in what is now the Czech Republic. Previously it had been a holiday resort for the elite. Terezin is contained within the fortress Theresienstadt, created by Emperor Joseph II of Austria and named in honour of his mother Empress Maria Theresa. It was transformed by the Gestapo into a Jewish ghetto and concentration camp housing Jews from Czechoslovakia and tens of thousands of Jews deported from Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Denmark. Less than 150 children survived their imprisonment there. It was not itself an extermination camp however those held there were deported to Auschwitz and elsewhere.

Terezin differed from other internment camps in that it housed many educated Jews including scholars, scientists, musicians, philosophers including some of international standing. The camp’s cultural life was supported by its inhabitants.

In late 1943 an inspection of the site was demanded by the Danish king, Christian X, forcing the Nazis to undertake “Operation Embellishment” (a charade involving weeks of preparation) to give a totally false impression of the nature of the camp. The visit of the International Red Cross of June 23 1944 was hosted by Adolf Eichmann and resulted in a bland and uncondemnatory official report, as the visitors were totally taken in by the Nazi fiction.