INDIANAPOLIS — A World War II-era scrapbook recounting the wartime experiences of Indianapolis native Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is going up for auction.
The 84-page scrapbook, compiled by Vonnegut’s family between 1944 and 1945, chronicles his military service in Germany and his time as a prisoner of war, events that inspired his most-celebrated novel, “Slaughterhouse-Five.”
According to Christie’s Auction House, the scrapbook includes 22 unpublished letters from Vonnegut to his family, photographs, telegrams, newspaper clippings, and other keepsakes.
Christie’s estimates the scrapbook will sell for $150,000 to $200,000 when it goes to auction Dec. 4.
Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis in 1922 and was a graduate of Shortridge High School. He went on to Cornell University but left college in 1943 to enlist in the US Army.
Vonnegut was deployed to Europe with the 106th Infantry Division in late 1944. In Dec. 1944, he was captured during the Battle of the Bulge and kept as a Prisoner of War. He survived the Allied bombing of Dresden in the meat locker of a slaughterhouse.
“It was an experience that would inform the writing of his best-known and most influential work, the semi-autobiographical novel ‘Slaughterhouse-Five,” said the Christie’s listing.
The scrapbook includes 8 letters dated between Oct. and Nov. 1944 that “relay the excitement of being abroad with cautious optimism,” said the Christie’s listing.
Also included are letters Vonnegut sent home during his time as a Prisoner of War. One such letter, dated Jan. 9, reads: “Family: I was captured Dec 19. This is my third week in prison. We move out tomorrow to be put to work. Please don’t worry…“
One of the final letters in the scrapbook relays the news that Vonnegut had been liberated and would soon be home.
“It is a source of great delight to be able to announce that you will shortly receive a splendid relic of World War II with which you may decorate your hearth – namely, me in an excellent state of preservation. You may well say “Huzzzah!” for this prodigal princeling has survived.”
Vonnegut returned home in 1945 and married soon after. His first novel, “Player Piano,” was published in 1952 and “Slaughterhouse-Five” was first printed in 1969.
Vonnegut died in 2002 at the age of 84.
Click here to view the listing from Christie’s Auction House.
(Photo by Ulf Andersen/Getty.)
