Musaph le-Hagadah shel Pesach ["Supplement to the Passover Hagadah"]. / Passover Seder Service, Deutsches Theatre Restaurant, Munich, Germany, April 15-16, 1946. Conducting Chaplain Abraham J. Klausner

(HAGADAH)

Histadruth Tziyonith Achidah and "Nachem," April 15-16th

Munich Enclave - Munich, Germany

1946

Additional English title and Introduction. Texts in Hebrew and Yiddish prepared by Yosef Dov Sheinson - a survivor of the Kovno Ghetto. With seven dramatic woodcuts by Miklos Adler ("Ben Benjamin"). Each page surrounded by illustrated borders. Original printed wrappers. On front cover, prominant letter "A" within letter "O", the insignia of the United States Third Army, Army of Occupation

Yudlov 4007; Yaari 2328

SPECIAL EDITION FOR JEWS SERVING IN THE U.S. ARMY OF OCCUPATION. This Hagadah was issued under the auspices of the United States Third Army with the assistance of its chaplain, Rabbi Abraham J. Klausner. It contains heart-wrenching illustrations depicting the parallels between Jewish suffering under the Nazis and the Hagadah’s story of Jewish oppression in ancient Egypt. The Hagadah has a “gallows-humor” and biting wit. For example, the traditional passage "Baruch shomer havtachatho le-Yisrael" [Blessed is He who keeps his promise to Israel] now reads: "Blessed is He who keeps his promise to Israel and composed the White Paper and forbade Aliyah," an allusion to the British betrayal of the promise made to the Jewish People in the Balfour Declaration. Rather transparent is the message to the "She'erith ha-Pleitah," the survivors of the Holocaust, to resist the temptation of resettlement in the West and focus rather on Aliyah to Eretz Israel. Our variant contains a two-page English introduction commencing with the words: "And the khaki-clad sons of Israel commanded by Lt. General Truscott gathered together as was the custom in Israel, to celebrate the Passover Festival. They came from the Ninth Division in the West and the First Division in the East. They came from the 98th General Hospital and from the 24th Dispensary. They came from the CIC, the CID, the ICD, the UNRRA and the American Joint Distribution Committee, all of them came to the city of Munich, there to relate as of old, the miracle of freedom…" Thus, with the inclusion of this English introduction, the so-called "Survivors' Hagadah" was adapted for use by U.S. servicemen and other English-speaking Jews stationed in occupied Germany. The American Jewish Historical Society, New York has produced a facsimile edition of this Hagadah.