KZ.: Bildbericht Aus Fünf Konzentrationslagern.

[Germany?: United States Department of War Information:, 1945]. First edition, first printing. "This book, which is not much more than a pamphlet, may represent the single most significant use of photography as a witness in the medium's history" (Parr & Badger, p. 194). The book "was distributed in Germany by the American War Information unit at the end of World War II in order to convey to the civilian population the enormity of the crimes committed by the Nazis in the name of the German people... The book shows, with a terse accompanying commentary, images from five of the concentration camps liberated by the Allies in 1945 - Buchenwald, Belsen, Gardelegen, Nordhausen and Ohrdruf. The names of the individual camps - although now infamous - do not matter in a sense, for the pictures from each show a similar litany of horror - piles of naked corpses, shocked, starved survivors and stunned German civilians brought in to witness what had been happening close to their homes" (ibid.). Quarto. Original wrappers. Illustrated with 44 photographs. A little rubbed and creased, spine ends splitting a little, small patch of abrasion to rear cover. Still a very good copy of a fragile work. Martin Parr & Gerry Badger, The Photobook: A History, Volume I, 2004.