Over 200,000 Holocaust survivors found their way to Displaced Persons camps after World War II. Considering the horrors they experienced during the war, one wouldn’t expect them to have spiritual needs on top of their mind. It is thus surprising to realize the sheer number of Hebrew books – siddurim; Chumashim; Talmuds; works of Chassidut, drush, and halacha; fiction; memoirs; general literature; etc. – that were published either in the DP camps and for the DP camp population during the brief period of their existence.
This week, I acquired a rare title from this period: a machzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur published in Stockholm, Sweden in 1947. The title page features a harrowing illustration of a Torah ark engulfed in flames, underscored by a verse taken from the Binding of Isaac: “Kach na es bincha es yechidecha asher ahavta v’haaleihu sham l’olah – Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and offer him there as a burnt offering.”
Following the title page appears an illustration of a memorial to the Holocaust victims with the phrase: “Hotza’ah zu mukdeshes l’zichron alfei rivevos acheinu v’achayoseinu she’masru nafsham al Kiddush Hashem bishnos 5699-5705, Hashem yikon damam.”
On the base of the memorial appears a very crude English translation (clearly written by a non-English speaking native), which reads: “This edition appears as a memorial for the six million yews who fell victims for the cruelty of war criminers, 1939-1945.”
