Osynka, Paladij

[AUSCHWITZ] Album politviaznia [Album of the Political Prisoner]

Munich: [Hanns Lindner], 1946. Item #1364

Cover Title: Auschwitz. Book measures: 15 x 21 cm. 8 pages, [16] leaves of stylized color illustrations by the author, depicting life and death in Auschwitz. A very good copy with some wear along the edges.

This scarce bilingual caricature album, presented in Ukrainian and English, was published and distributed in Ukrainian displaced persons camps in Germany and Austria following World War II. Created by the pseudonymous Paladij Osynka, the work offers a satirical glimpse into life during one of history’s darkest chapters. Osynka, a Ukrainian nationalist active in eastern Poland during the tumultuous period following the 1939 joint invasion by Germany and the USSR, was targeted by both Soviet and Nazi forces. Eventually captured and sent to Auschwitz, he was one of only 40 survivors among 15,000 Ukrainian prisoners in the camp.

Within these pages, Osynka's sardonic sketches caricature fellow prisoners and guards, using satire as a lens to depict the grim realities of camp life—truths too harrowing, in his view, for naturalistic portrayal. His preface frames the album as both a testament to survival and a tribute to the indomitable spirit of the Ukrainian people, documenting their enduring struggle for freedom and higher ideals.

A profoundly moving and extraordinarily scarce historical Holocaust artifact.

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