Camouflaged Anti-Nazi Literature
NYPL News!
Anti-Nazi pamphlet from 1939 in a Lyons' tea packet containing articles by Hermann Budzislawski, Heinrich Mann, Thomas Mann, and others. Photo: Jack Sherefkin
In the early eighties, rare book librarian John Rathe pulled down a dusty box, wrapped in twine, from a remote corner of the Rare Book room. Attached to the box was a label that said: "Do not open until war is over." Which war? The Civil War? The War of 1812? In this blog post, librarian Jack Sherefkin describes what Rathe discovered: a box filled with disguised anti-Nazi tracts hidden in packets of tea and shampoo and concealed in miniature books both popular and scholarly.