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book (design) story #473

wolfgang langhoff:
die moorsoldaten

schweizer spiegel verlag, zürich, 1935
size: 18 x 13 cm
designer: helmuth kurtz (jacket)

in 1933 german actor and theatrical director wolfgang langhoff (1901-1966) was dragged to the nazi concentration camp of börgermoor. after more than a year imprisonment he was released and then managed to escape to switzerland where he published this famous report ...

... which appeared in english translations as "the peat bog soldiers: 13 months of concentration camp". this copy came with a publisher's brochure laid in.

the impressive photographic cover montage – the title on a peat brown background is "imprisoned" behind barbed wire – is signed in the lower left corner by zürich-based graphic designer helmuth kurtz (1903-1959, see also book story 422).

the book starts with a reproduced handwritten statement by the author, dated zürich, january 1935.

there are two drawings by artist jean kralik (1900-1971) ...

... who was also a prisoner of the börgermoor camp. below we see the prisoners cutting peat in the moorlands.

the song of the peat bog soldiers, composed and performed by prisoners of the börgermoor camp, became a famous protest song.