431 - Group of Six Books of the Years 1939 to 1943, Contemporary Documents

Group of Six Books of the Years 1939 to 1943, Contemporary Documents Group of six books of the years 1939 to 1943: 1) Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1940 edition, with a printed dedication page bearing the name of the bridal couple and the date 26 April 1941 entered by hand, below it the autograph signature of the Lord Mayor of Litzmannstadt; 2) H. W. Gaebert, Flugmeldehelferin Inge Berger, Wehnert und Co., Leipzig 1943; 3) Gerhard Eger, Helgas erstes Kriegsjahr, Karl Adlers Buchhandlung, Dresden 1942; 4) Suse Harms, Sommertage in Heidersdorf, Junge Generation Verlag, Berlin 1939; 5) Anna Liebel-Monninger, Gertrud wächst ins Dritte Reich. Eine Geschichte um den Reichsparteitag, Julius Beltz, Langensalza Berlin Leipzig 1942; 6) Florentine Hamm, Obersalzberg. Wanderungen zwischen gestern und heute, Zentralverlag der NSDAP 1941. Various bindings in cloth, half cloth and paper wrappers, some with coloured dust jackets, several volumes with black and white plates and pen drawings. Condition commensurate with age, browned, partly rubbed and torn Today the group is chiefly of interest as a source for contemporary history: four of the volumes are girls' books addressed to young female readers and show how everyday wartime life and the state youth organisation were conveyed in literary form. Litzmannstadt was the German name introduced in 1940 for the annexed Polish city of Lodz; the dedication therefore comes from a municipal administration in the so-called Warthegau and documents that the practice of presenting the book officially to bridal couples was also followed in the incorporated eastern territories. The Lord Mayor of Litzmannstadt at that time was Karl Marder, who had taken office in May 1940. Copies bearing a place, a date and a signature are more informative for research into municipal administrative practice than the text itself. The rights in the text expired at the end of 2015; original editions from the period before 1945 have since been traded as historical documents.