Because They Were Jews!
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Memorialization:
First Series Produced: 1945-1948
"On October 17, 1941 (10-16-41), my wife Mathilde, three-year old daughter Mirjam, and I were deported from Prague to the Lodz Ghetto. What I have painted and sketched here was only an attempt to portray what my eye saw: Lodz natives, people from Lodz on the water-pump, starving families, children who sold matches, cigarettes, saccharin, and homemade candy on the streets; Jews who were so weak that they no longer could get up from the street; a wagon filled with bricks pulled by ten starving, exhausted Jews guarded by a German soldier with a fixed bayonet!
I produced all of the artwork after the liberation. Rumkowski was chosen by the German administration as the "Judenälteste" (Eldest of the Jews). I was registered to work as an industrial designer in Metal I (Metall II) but only on paper. In the Ghetto, I could also paint and sketch in pencil and most importantly, produced portraits of the majority of the directors of about 40 factories, for which I received food or other things. The food one received with the ration cards were only hunger rations with 100 grams of horsemeat for one week."
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Description:
David Friedmann (David Friedman, Dav. Friedmann) was an accomplished artist long before World War II and the Holocaust. As each of his options narrowed, he continued to produce art illustrating the events and personal experiences of his time. In December 1938, David fled from Berlin to Prague, escaping with only his artistic talent as a means to survive. In October 1941, he was deported to the Lodz Ghetto, then to camps Auschwitz-Birkenau and Gleiwitz I. He survived a Death March to Camp Blechhammer in Upper Silesia, where he was liberated on January 25, 1945 by the Red Army. He defied all odds to survive at the age of 51 years and paint again. His burning desire was to show the world the ruthless persecution, torment, and agony as practiced by the Nazis, in the hope that such barbarism would never happen again. In 1949, he fled Stalinist Czechoslovakia to Israel and later immigrated to the United States.
Because They Were Jews!
Copyright © 1989 Miriam Friedman Morris
All Rights Reserved
Site constructed with permission of Miriam Friedman Morris
Note: No one other than Miriam Friedman Morris may represent, edit or publish the art or material.
Documents:
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Object Type:
- Paintings, Charcoal Drawings
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