EXTENSIVE PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE WITH THIRTY PHOTOGRAPHS SIGNED BY BEGIN, WITH NINE SIGNED LETTERS FROM BEGIN TO FAMED NAZI HUNTER TUVIA FRIEDMAN
BEGIN, Menachem. Archive of signed photographs and typed letters signed by Menachem Begin. No place, 1965-77. 32 original photographs, most measuring 5 by 7 inches; nine letters, most measuring 6 by 8 inches, typing on rectos only. Housed in a black ring binder.
Original archive of photographs centering on the historic Camp David Accords, over 30 of which are signed by Menachem Begin, with a number of them additionally signed by Ezer Weizmann, Israel’s future President, or Ariel Sharon, future Prime Minister. Together with a collection of nine typed letters signed by Begin to famed Nazi hunter Tuvia Friedman discussing such important events as the Munich massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes in 1972 and the capture of Adolf Eichmann.
Menachem Begin was chosen as Israel’s Prime Minister in 1977, the same year that Jimmy Carter assumed the presidency of the United States. Determined to see peace in the Middle East, Carter gathered Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat at Camp David in September, 1978. This eventful meeting was the first in a series that ultimately resulted in the historic signing of the Camp David Accords on September 17, 1978. Begin brought with him Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Dayan and Defense Minister Ezer Weizmann (Chaim Weizmann’s nephew). These photographs were likely taken by White House photographer William Fitzpatrick. Thirty of the photographs are signed by Begin in Hebrew and English. The photographs show may of the stages of the Camp David Accord meetings, with Carter, Sadat and Begin featured prominently. Also featured in the photographs with Begin (some taken at different times), are Ezer Weizmann, Ariel Sharon, Moshe Dayan, Avraham Yoffe, Barbara Walters, Lubavitcher Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, and Ronald Reagan (with Begin in the Oval Office). One set of photographs depicts Carter, Sadat, and Begin signing the Accords in the White House. Three photographs are signed by Future Israeli President Ezer Weizmann and one is signed by future Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Also included in this archive are nine typed letters signed by Begin, to famed Nazi hunter Tuvia Friedman. All are on official Knesset stationary. Topics covered in the letters include the anniversary of the beginning of World War II (“My participation in the meeting marking the 40th anniversary of the outbreak of World War Two is not practicable. For every one of us it is an unforgettable day and I personally remember that Friday as though it was yesterday.”); the Munich massacre of the Israeli Olympic athletes in 1972 (“We had called for the establishment of a parliamentary investigation committee after the Munich atrocities but… the government… decided not to accede to our demand.”); the capture of Adolf Eichmann (“It is not at all clear why you found it necessary to accord all of the ‘credit’ for the capture of Eichmann to the then Prime Minister, and failed to make any mention of the Director of the Security Services who planned the action and did the work”); detente between Israel and Germany (“the generation of the exterminated must not fraternize with the generation of the exterminators”); and Begin’s book The Revolt: the Story of the Irgun and a possible film adaptation of it. Polish Holocaust survivor Tuvia Friedman was the Director of the Haifa Institute for the Documentation of Nazi War Crimes, and the head of the Vienna Jewish Historical Documentation Center. He began hunting fugitive Nazis in 1945, was a close associate of Simon Wiesenthal, and was involved in the operation to capture Adolf Eichmann. He published a number of books documenting the Holocaust, and produced the film “Nazi Hunter.”
A unique, exceptional archive in fine condition.