A touching item of Yiddish Culture from late Pre-War Europe. A book of illustrations of Sholem Aleichem's stories, by Rahel Szalit.  Inscribed by the artist Mrs. Rahel Szalit-Marcus (1888 – 1942 Auschwitz) with a dedication to a Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Baer. The book also has the ex-libris of their daughter, Mrs. Kate Baer, who became a notable resident of Kiryat Bialik, Israel. The items holds a unique story of life, peril, and eventual rebirth.

Rahel Szalit-Marcus was a renowned Jewish artist and illustrator. She won international recognition for her illustrations of Jewish and international literature. Active in Berlin during the Weimar Republic where she gained her initial fame, running in circles that defined pre-war European culture. In 1933, she fled the Nazis in Berlin, and settled in Paris. She lived and created art for several years in Pari, before being forced into hiding. She was discovered in Paris in 1942 and deported to Auschwitz, where she was murdered a month later in August 1942.

The inscription, written one year before Rahel fled Berlin, reads,
"Herr und Frau Dr. Baer herzlichst gewidment, Rahel Szalit 1932,"
 "Warmly dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Baer."

As a meaningful detail, the book has the ex-libris from the Baer families' daughter, Mrs. Kate Baer, who settled in Kiryat Bialik, becoming one of the founding and notable residents of the city. To us, this detail completes the grim history of the book and the author's fate, with a note of rebirth and resolve. An incredible item weaving the iconic Shtetl tales of Sholem Aleichem that marked Pre-War Yiddish culture, the terrible fate of an iconic artist in the Holocaust, and the rebirth of the Jewish People in Israel.