"HOW CAN ANYONE BELIEVE THIS TERRIBLE BUSINESS—UNLESS HE HAS LIVED THROUGH IT?": FIRST EDITION OF MURDERERS AMONG US, BOLDLY INSCRIBED BY THE EDITOR, JOSEPH WECHSBERG

WIESENTHAL, Simon. The Murderers Among Us. The Simon Wiesenthal Memoirs. New York: McGraw-Hill, (1967). Octavo, original half black cloth, original dust jacket. $350.

First edition of Wiesenthal's first memoir of his life and dedication to tracking down Nazi war criminals who eluded justice, boldly inscribed on the title page by the book's editor: "For Ed Freihling with good wishes. Joseph Wechsberg."

After surviving Nazi death camps, Simon Wiesenthal "dedicated the rest of his life to tracking down fugitive Nazi war criminals… After hairbreadth escapes from death, two suicide attempts and his liberation by American forces in Austria in 1945, Wiesenthal abandoned his profession as an architectural engineer and took on a new calling: memorializing the six million of his fellow Jews and perhaps five million other noncombatants who were systematically murdered by the Nazis, and bringing their killers to justice… Wiesenthal penetrated veils of secrecy shrouding the Nazi euthanasia program and doctors who conspired in killing 'useless eaters.' He also traced the escape routes of SS criminals and other Nazis, documenting the underground network known from its German initials as Odessa. And as much as tracking down fugitive Nazis himself, he took it as his mission to goad governments around the world not to drop their pursuit and prosecution of war criminals… He recounted these efforts in a memoir published in 1967, The Murderers Among Us, and a second volume, Justice, Not Vengeance, in 1989" (New York Times). In addition to his work as the editor of the volume, Joseph Wechsberg was an accomplished non-fiction author known for his adept biography of famous personalities. "First Edition" stated on copyright page. Edited and with a profile of Wiesenthal by Joseph Wechsberg. Illustrated with eight pages of black-and-white photogravures.

Book near-fine, with slight shallow soiling to edge of text block. Dust jacket near-fine, with closed tear to front panel and slight rubbing to extremities. An attractive signed copy.