My Ally

The German Government (no publisher indicated), 1940 (n.d.). English-language edition, only printing. Paperback. This is a rare, extremely well-preserved, and fascinating wartime Nazi propaganda piece ridiculing Churchill's wartime alliance of convenience with Stalin. It was produced by the Germans specifically to help recruit captured British soldiers to the Britisher Freikorps, the SS unit made up of British troops. This English language edition was distributed to British POWs. Versions are known in Croatian, French, German, Norwegian, and Swedish, but by far the most important and scarce is the English language version.

The format is newspaper cartoons critical of Stalin on each right hand page with notes and Churchill quotes critical of Stalinist Russia on opposing pages. The effect is a stinging contrast between Churchill's wartime alliance of necessity with his long history of ardent anti-communist sentiment. The book measures 8 5/8 x 6 inches, is 110 pages long, and is bound in cream-colored card wraps. The title page lists Winston Churchill as author, with both the publisher and the editor unspecified. There is an unsigned, two-page preface at the beginning and a three-page list of "Source of Reference" at the end. Publication was of course directly at the behest of the Nazi government. Churchill bibliographer Ronald Cohen speculates that Wilhelm Liljencrantz may have been the compiler.

Given the nature of this perishable wartime publication, surviving copies are quite scarce. This is a superlative copy of the English language issue of My Ally, the best copy of this perishable wartime publication that we have ever seen. The cream-colored card binding is tight, square, and complete with no tears or creases, including no vertical creasing of the spine. Very light overall soiling and toning and fractional wear at the corners are the only external flaws to report. The contents are printed on cheap, newsprint-style wartime paper. The contents are thus inevitably age-toned, but not severely. There is no spotting. The sole previous ownership mark is a small, decorative bookplate on the inside front cover.

Reference: Cohen A122.1, Woods D(a)6, Zoller A68