brian cassidy bookselle

39.
[WWII]. GLAZER, Harry B.
[Archive of a
Jewish-American Serviceman]
[Various], (ca. 1940-1945)
Four holograph diaries containing approximately
140,000 words. With: 350 +/- ALS
written by Glazer while on active duty,
in the U.S. and Europe, totaling more than
100,000 words. Hundreds of additional ALS
and TLS from friends/family during and
following wartime. Dozens of pieces of
service and family ephemera. Nearly all
correspondence with original mailing envelopes. Contents clean, well
preserved; generally very good or better.
A large WWII-era service archive of Harry Bernard Glazer (1923-2014),
a young Jewish man from Washington D.C.’s Cleveland Park neighborhood.
Consisting primarily of personal diaries and correspondence (to
his mother Dorothy, father Morris, and brother David — whose long,
mysterious illness and death are also documented here), the materials
chronicle Glazer’s coming of age, his failed attempts to enlist in the
military, his eventual successful induction, and his service (including
training and deployment with the 824th Tank Destroyer Battalion in
support of the 100th Infantry Division of the 7th Army through France,
Austria, and Germany) — all from an unmistakable and distinctly Jewish
perspective.
Highlights include: a moving account of a 1945 Sedar held in Germany
for U.S. troops, along with the rare program from that event (right —
another copy of which, remarkably, currently exists in the trade as
part of the effects of the Chaplain presiding over the service; otherwise
no additional copies known); Glazer’s frank diaries which describe
his abusive home life as well as his dawning Jewish identity in
the wake of WWII; more than 250 wartime letters home, many displayed
Glazer’s keen eye and unusual insight; plus numerous supporting documents
that offer a full portrait of Glazer’s wartime life and service.
With his formidable skills as a writer and uncommon point-of-view,
an archive of notable depth and breadth, and an important record of a
Jewish soldier serving in the European theater under the shadow of the
Holocaust.
A rich archive of a Jewish-American
and his combat service in
Europe during WWII, exceptionally
composed and preserved, including
rare printed Judaica. A
more complete description and
inventory of contents is available.
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