A Worker’s Day Under German Occupation

Griffiths, Jim (foreword by). A Worker’s Day Under German Occupation. London: Liberty Publications, 1942. Fourth printing. Octavo. 15pp. [1]. Illustrated b/w wrappers with white and black lettering on the front cover. This anti-Nazi pamphlet issued by the political left in Britain, serves as an expose of the harsh authoritarian conditions under which working Poles toiled during the German occupation of Poland. The publication, which preports to have been derived from first hand accounts, documents and newspapers, serves to chronologically take the reader through a day in the life of a Polish worker, personified in the name Jan Kowalski (which they translate as equivalent to John Smith) and to examine many aspects of the Polish experience. We read about the fear, violence, paranoia, harsh labor, food shortages, malnutrition, abuse of children, lack of education, decimation of social life, and many other horrific realities of the period. The clandestine activities of the Polish underground and the resistance movement are discussed as well. The work also comments on instances of solidarity between the Polish workers and their Jewish neighbors. Illustrated with a number of b/w photographic reproductions throughout. Wrappers with some light rubbing and creasing to extremities. Wrappers in very good, interior in near fine condition overall. Protected in modern mylar. vg to near fine. Softcover.

James (Jeremiah) Griffiths (1890 – 1975) was a Welsh Labour Party politician, trade union leader and the first Secretary of State for Wales. (49445) $95