IMPORTANT FIRST ISSUE CALL TO ACTION PAMPHLET RECOGNIZING THE ON-GOING HOLOCAUST

Victor Gollancz. "Let My People Go" Some Pracitcal Proposals for Dealing with Hitler's Massacre of the Jews and an Appeal to the British Public. [London, United Kingdom]: Victor Gollancz Ltd.; Harrison & Sons, Ltd., printers, [1942]. 

8vo. Original yellow wrappers printed in purple. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. 

An important first issue of Victor Gollancz's call to action in response to the ongoing Holocaust crisis. Gollancz (1893-1967), a prominent publisher and supporter of left-wing politics, saw that "every day of inaction meant more death, yet at domestic and international level there continued political justifications for entry-quota restrictions. Victor, lacking direct political power, could throw behind the cause only his weight as writer, publicist, committee worker and speaker. He did so unstintingly for the first half of 1943. His first major contribution was the 16,000-word pamphlet, Let My People Go, which he wrote at Christmas at Brimpton. Its powerful content and simple style made it the most moving of all his publications. He had no need to exaggerate his case: the facts spoke for themselves. And his appeal for action had about it nothing Utopian or ideological. He wrote directly for anyone - conservative or socialist - who cared about the preservation of human life. The issue was straightforward. Of the six million Jews in pre-war Europe, one to two million had already been deliberately murdered in circumstances of unspeakable brutality." (Edwards, p. 374). He called for Allied governments to formulate a rescue plan, to exchange Jews for enemy nationals, for sympathetic nations to increase their intake of refugees, and for greater numbers of Jewish immigrants to be allowed into Palestine. 

The work was tremendously successful, selling over 250,000 copies in the first three months after publication. It saw at least six editions and was translated into several languages with wide international circulation. 

An important work in the defense of the Jews during World War II. 

References

Ruth Dudley Edwards. Victor Gollancz: A Biography.