Zdeněk Tmej -
Fototorst edition The
most famous set of photographs by the Czech photographer Zdeněk Tmej
(1920–2004), Totaleinsatz, was made in 1942–44, when Tmej was in
Breslau, Prussia (since the end of the W. W. II, Wrocław, Poland),
where he and other other men and women of his generation were
ordered to go and do forced labour for Nazi Germany. These
sophisticated shots constitute photo-journalism made with personal
feeling and professional skill. They were taken under demanding
lighting conditions and were developed in Wrocław. Because the
Gestapo considered them to be mere souvenirs, they managed to escape
destruction. Even at the end of the war, however, their uniqueness
was evident; since that time no other pictorial testimony about Nazi
forced labour has appeared, which would be as informative and at the
same time as artistic. A small number of these historically valuable
documents were first published as Abeceda duševního prázdna (The
ABCs of a spiritual void). Tmej’s unique vision together with his
strong interest in their important subject matter provided the
impetus for the present publication, which is the first to present
this set of photographs as a whole. They are accompanied by articles
written by the internationally renowned historian of photography
Anna Fárová and a leading Czech authority on forced labor during
World War II, the historian Tomáš Jelínek.
Zdeněk Tmej The Alphabet of
Spiritual Emptiness - Errata Editions
Books on
Books #10
Zdenek Tmej: Alphabet of Spiritual
Emptiness
Essays by Vladimir Birgus, Alexandra
Urbanova, Jeffrey Ladd
Hardcover w/ Dustjacket, 172 pp, 9.5 x 7
in.,
105 Duotone illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-935004-18-9
$39.95
Release date: February 2011
Zdenek Tmej's Abeceda Dusevniho Prazdna
(The Alphabet of Spiritual Emptiness)
published in 1946 enables a rare look,
from a captive's perspective, inside a
Nazi forced labor camp in Breslau,
Poland during World War II. It is
remarkable that Tmej, a Czech citizen
made to work for the Nazi war effort for
three years, was allowed to photograph
at all, let alone describe the
psychological stasis of his experience
with the poetic voice that these
portraits and still-lifes convey. Books
on Books #10 presents every page spread
from this extremely rare and fragile
document including the original texts by
Alexandra Urbanova translated for the
first time into English.
Zdeněk Tmej
Archiv 1936
- 1998
Publisher:
AF / Kant Praha, 1998
Text a
koncepce: Blanka Chocholová
Range: 68 Pages
Firsta catalogue surveying life-work of Zdeněk Tmej, issued
at occassion of huge retrospective exhibition on Old town
hall at Prague,
reprised in Silesian museum in Opava.
Example from the introduction
text of catalogue:
Zdeněk Tmej (b. 1920)
unique documentary of in the
form of a photographic diary which he made in 1942-1943
spent in Wroclav (Ger. Breslau) as a labor conscript forced
to contribute to the German war efforts constitute a most
comprehensive and exclusive series unparalleled in either
Czech or world photography.His very personal approach to
photography, his inventiveness, technical mastery and art
far surpassing the standards of his period made him one of
the founders of pre-war Czech avant-garde photography.
...
Zdeněk Tmej - Abeceda Duševního prázdna
(The Alphabet of Spiritual Emptiness )
Year of issue:1946
Publisher:Zádruha, Praha
ilustrations:45 BW gravure printing reproductions of
photographs
Binding:. paperback with dust jacket
size: 24,6 x 21,3 cm
Number of pages: - 162 p.
Publisher:
AF / Kant Praha, 1998
Text by: Alexandra Urbanová
Extremely rare collectors book,
which is very valuable as one of the most important picture
book of 20s century. Reprinted in 2011 in Books on
Books edition see above.
Zdeněk Tmej - Totaleinsatz, Edition Photothek