Description:

LETTER GROUPING FROM A PRISONER AT DACHAU AND SACHSENHAUSEN (35)
Rarely seen group of 35 handwritten letters, almost all on official camp letterheads, sent by a prisoner held at Dachau and Sachsenhausen and mailed to his family living in the Litzmannstadt, Poland ghetto. Josef Janik, born in 1903, sent these letters to his wife and children in Litzmannstadt, itself a notorious Jewish ghetto which would be liquidated by war's end. The first item in the grouping is an unusual postcard from Dachau sent by Janik to his family, possibly on the first day of his incarceration, opening simply: 'Dear Wife and children, I am here in Concentration Camp Dachau...my health is good...' Thus would begin Janik's three-year (at least) imprisonment in some of Germany's most notorious concentration camps. While at Dachau, he writes two letters in the summer of 1940 on camp letterhead, mentioning monies sent to him, etc. The entire balance of the correspondence is on Sachsenhausen concentration camp official prisoners' postcards and letterheads, continuing regularly until the last piece, dated Aug. 22, 1943. The letters are untranslated but generally describe their back and forth correspondence, remittances of food, his health, photographs sent to him, and so on, the topics as always uncontroversial as demanded by camp censors. The letters are almost all stamped by these various censors as well as including Janik's prisoner number, cell block, etc. Also present are many receipts for small outlays of cash sent to Janik by his wife at regular intervals. These letters are in overall very good condition, and absolutely should be translated. Runs of prisoners' letters this extensive are very rarely seen! Litzmannstadt, Janik's home, suffered a wave of deportations to Chelmno death camp beginning in early 1942, with the remaining Jewish population sent later to Auschwitz and Chelmno where most were murdered upon their arrival. It was the last ghetto in occupied Poland to be liquidated. Janik's fate is unknown. Overall very good.

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November 29, 2023 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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$100 $499 $20
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$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
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