Wij Waren Getuigen [We Were Witnesses] + Oorlogswinter 1944-1945 [Winter in Wartime 1944-1945] Anti-Nazi Poster

Amsterdam: Witgeverij Vrij Nederland, 1946. Hardcover. Book: first edition; folio 14 3/4" x 11"; pp. [72]; 1/4 cloth and gray paper over boards, printed and illustrated in black; small rubbed spots to tips of spine and corners; a minor paper nick to fore-edge; light age-toning and foxing to margins, 30 black and white plates; very good condition.Poster: first edition; 25 1/2" x 19 1/2"; fold lines and a bit of age-toning to margins; several small nicks to edges; manuscript note to verso; in about very good condition.A joint endeavor of De Vries and Klaasse, the book presented a beautiful collaboration of poetry and art. Theunis (Theun) De Vries (1907 - 2005) was a Dutch poet, author, and member of the Communist Party of the Netherlands, who was arrested and imprisoned at Kamp Amersfoort by the Nazi forces. Many of his novels revolved around the Dutch resistance during the Second World War. Piet Klaasse (1918 - 2001) was a Dutch artist, graphic designer, illustrator, and educator. In 1944, he was commissioned by the underground resistance journal Vrij Nederland (still in existence today) to compile a report on the German occupation. The result was the current book, which was published in 1946.The poster was created as a satirical presentation of Dutch life under Nazi occupation - a busy street and life steepled in hardships, with people cutting public trees for firewood, gathering cigarette buts off the ground, and riding dilapidated bicycles, while the German occupiers are strolling about carrying food and alcohol bottles and entertaining attractive, well-dressed ladies.