Rare WWII “Great Escape” Prison Diary Owned by an Imprisoned RAF Officer Inside Infamous Stalag Luft III POW Camp Hits Auction Block in NYC For the Very First Time
Lion Heart Autographs, Inc., for more than forty years an internationally recognized dealer of autographs and manuscripts specializing in art, history, literature, music, and science, has announced an extraordinary live auction to take place on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 beginning at 1:00 p.m. which will feature over 175 lots of some of the world’s most rare and valuable manuscripts, autographs and memorabilia to date. The auction: WWII “Great Escape” POW Diary & 175 GREAT Autographs in Art, History, Literature, Music & Science will be streamed live online via http://www.invaluable.com.
In a remarkable opportunity for collectors and museums and to commemorate the 75th anniversary of WWII’s most famous escape attempt, Lion Heart Autographs will offer a very rare diary from the STALAG LUFT III POW “GREAT ESCAPE” prison camp. This richly illustrated YMCA “Wartime Log for British Prisoners” (1944) belonged to the Belgian-born, British Royal Air Force officer, JOSEPH M.J. (“JOE”) GUEUFFEN (1914-2009), a prisoner of war at the Luftwaffe’s Stalag Luft III. The well-preserved volume documents prison life and various aspects of World War II’s famous “Great Escape,” detailing its aftermath in which 50 British escapees were executed by the Nazis as well as the forced march of 2,000 POWs to another camp as the war drew to a close. This diary chronicles the period from September 1944 to February 1945, and was owned by Gueuffen, an RAF pilot living in Block 109, a barrack that played an integral part in the “Great Escape,” which occurred 75 years ago, on March 24, 1944. Its 113 pages contain texts, maps, diagrams, and 43 colorful cartoons and drawings by Gueuffen and other, mostly British, captives. Read More