1. Art of the Holocaust
“An important function of art of the Holocaust, the
works done secretly in camps, in ghettos and in
hiding places—might be termed spiritual resistance.
The term was coined by Miriam Novitch . . . an
inmate in the French internment camp Vittel, [She]
understood the importance and uniqueness of the art
created under inhuman conditions. Novitch contended
that without art, without the courageous and heroic
manifestations of the human spirit produced in the
camps and ghettos, the story would be incomplete.”
Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University.
Editor's Notes
Unable to Work by David Olère. 131x162 cm, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, New York. Inability to work was often an immediate death sentence. In the background of this painting, smoke rises from the crematorium to form the SS insignia.
“ Gassing” The container in the lower right is labeled Zyklon B. He took part in the evacuation death march of Auschwitz in January of 1945 and was finally liberated by the Americans at Ebensee in May of that year. Died 1985
David Olère Olère's first assignment at Auschwitz was as a grave digger of bunker 2. His prisoner number, 106144, is seen both on his shirt and as a tattoo on his left arm. Polish-born French painter and sculptor Jewish Sonderkommando inmate at Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. died
Aushwitz by Felix Nussbaum painted weeks before his death in the camp 1944
Philipp and Rahel Nussbaum were killed in the concentration camp of Auschwitz in February. Like being aware of his own upcoming death, in Nussbaum's last painting, Triumph of Death (dated 18 April 1944), skeletal creatures play and dance to music within a a barren wasteland:
Threesome (1944), by Felix Nussbaum (1904-1944). Oil/Canvas, 100x80cm In Threesome, painted in January 1944, Nussbaum portrays himself as a pious Jew in hiding with his wife Felka and his son Jaqui. The triangular composition is reminiscent of renaissance sacral art. The painter identifies himself fully with the religion to which he was thrown back as a result of the persecution by National Socialism, whereas his wife merely endures the situation. Felix Nussbaum describes here in one of his last pictures the situation of all those persecuted which lies somewhere between fear of death and vague hope.
“ Everything that was happening all around was so strange, so different from all the ideas and practices of our lives hitherto. I felt that I must report on this new existence or at least make sketches. I must depict things as I saw them. Admittedly, it was only during periods of relative calm that I could devote myself to any such activity. But in the course of time I began to regard this work of mine as a duty” From her book A Living Witness Esther Lurie
Ruins of the Hospital in the Kovno Ghetto Lurie was liberated by the Red Army on 21 January 1945.died in Tel Aviv in 1998
The Death March By Israel Alfred Glück In 1943, Glück decided to try to reach the Land of Israel; however, he was caught between Switzerland and Germany. He was deported to Auschwitz and from there to the sub-camp of Jaworzno. With the Soviet bombing of the camp in February 1945, Glück was sent on a death march to Blechhammer, Gross-Rosen and Buchenwald. Following the liberation, Glück spent some time in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp. Glück illegally immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1946, on board the ship Tel Hai. Died 2007
Hellmut Bachrach-Barée (1898-1969) Men from KZ Dachau, April 1945 Pencil on paper Following the evacuation of Stassfurt at the beginning of April 1945, Bachrach-Barée was sent to Buchenwald where he joined a death march of 4,500 prisoners in the direction of Dachau. The prisoners reached Bad Tölz camp in May. Following the Allied victory Bachrach-Barée was liberated and returned to Munich. Throughout the march he documented, through drawing, that which took place.
Hellmut Bachrach-Barée (1898-1969) Death March, Dachau to Tölz, May 1945 Pencil on paper
n 1939 Sechbach was still living in a luxurious eight-room apartment in Frankfurt. Then, in 1941, like the other Jews of Germany, she was forced to wear the yellow badge. As she understood the gravity of her situation, Seckbach made last-minute attempts to get to the United States via Lisbon, but was unsuccessful. Flowers Terezin Ghetto 18 June 1944 by Amalie Seckbach
On 15 September 1942, Seckbach was sent to Terezin. This was an extremely difficult period in her life, but somehow, despite her poor physical condition, the 72-year-old succeeded in producing works of art. Some of her paintings survived and can be found at Beit Lohamei Haghetaot (the Ghetto Fighters' House Museum) in Israel. n Terezin, where one of her brothers had also been sent, Seckbach sometimes painted on paper she found in garbage cans. Unlike many other artists caught up in camps or ghettos, Seckbach did not portray life in the ghetto. This is what makes her works so surprising - at first glance they don't seem to have any connection with her circumstances.
On 10 August 1944 Seckbach died in Terezin. She was burnt in the crematorium, with no grave and no marker.
Holocaust Museum Houston for the opening reception for the new exhibits Blood Memory and Inheritance: Stories of Memory and Discovery. In the national premiere retrospective of her work, Blood Memory:a view from the second generation, artist Lisa Rosowsky explores the "second generation" experience as the daughter of a hidden child and refugee from the Holocaust.
The Hope Sarah Aldouby Bronze Site: Virginia War Museum, 9285 Warwick Boulevard Set in a quiet place among trees, the three figures in this sculpture are a memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and to the courage of Holocaust survivors and camp liberators.
The Holocaust Memorial of Miami Beach is located at 1933-1945 Meridian Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139 and is dedicated to the 6 Million Victims of the Holocaust. It was commissioned in 1985 and executed by Kenneth Treister, sculptor, who has described his intent as: "a large environmental sculpture...a series of outdoor spaces in which the visitor is led through a procession of visual, historical and emotional experiences with the hope that the totality of the visit will express, in some small way, the reality of the Holocaust." The dominant image is the large, 42 foot high bronze hand, The Sculpture of Love and Anguish," which includes an Auschwitz number on the forearm and 130 human figures cast in bronze in various forms of anguish.
“ Lonely Hope,” by Bailey Smith. Smith was in the eighth grade at Lakeside Middle School in Irvine when her photograph won first prize in Chapman University’s 2010 Holocaust Art and Writing Contest, middle school division.
![Art of the Holocaust
“An important function of art of the Holocaust, the
works done secretly in camps, in ghettos and in
hiding places—might be termed spiritual resistance.
The term was coined by Miriam Novitch . . . an
inmate in the French internment camp Vittel, [She]
understood the importance and uniqueness of the art
created under inhuman conditions. Novitch contended
that without art, without the courageous and heroic
manifestations of the human spirit produced in the
camps and ghettos, the story would be incomplete.”
Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/nightart-120926115725-phpapp02/85/nightart-1-320.jpg)
