Transcript Document 7205769

Life in the Shadow of Death
EXIBITION
organized by
Dr. Lya Benjamin and Dr. Irina Cajal-Marin
and hosted by
the Ministry of Culture and Cults
with the occasion of
The Day of the Holocaust in Romania
October 2005
During the second world war, the Jewish
population of Romania wasn’t spared
either from the tragic experience of the
Holocaust. The anti-Jewish legislation,
the forced transfer of the rural Jewish
population to the district capitals, the
introduction of the forced labor regimen;
the pogrom of Iasi and the assassination
by suffocation and dehydration of
thousands of Jews on the death trains;
the pogroms in Basarabia and Northern
Bucovina, district of Dorohoi, as well as
other regions of Romania and
Transnistria; the introduction in this
province of a systematic extermination
regimen of the deportees as well as the
native Jewish population; the purposeful
degradation of all Romanian Jews, were
all elements of the Romanian Holocaust.
(from the report of the International Committee for the
Study of the Holocaust in Romania)
The Massacre of the Jews from Iasi – June 1941
The Pogrom of Bucharest – January 1941
Testimonies
Cult objects desecrated during the pogrom of January 21-23, 1941 – Bucharest
Snapshots from the Deportations to Transnistria – taken during the fall of 1941
TORA Scrolls
(Old Testament)
which the Jews did not
part with even on the
last journey.
The Decision regarding the
destruction of the metal
matrixes of discs containing
Jewish music or music
interpreted by Jews
Barb-wire wreath in the memory of the young poet Selma Eisenberg
deceased in a concentration camp at the age of 18
work executed by Irina Cajal-Marin
In Iasi, in the month of June
1941, more than 12,000 Jews
were killed: part were shot to
death, the rest died by
suffocation in the death trains
where they were locked for days
on end, under the burning
summer sun, deprived of water
and air.
Jews killed in the pogroms of
Bucharest and Iasi, 1941
In the pogrom of Bucharest,
between January 21 – 23,
1943, 122 Jews were killed,
and thousands of Jewish
homes, shops and
synagogues were destroyed.
Partial view of the exhibition hall
NOTICE
Nr 17.492
November 28, 1942
The population is hereby notified
that the sugar due for the month
of October will be distributed
beginning November 30, as
follows:
Christians will receive 500 gram
per person.
Jews ………………….100 gram
per person
Gypsies ………………200 gram
per person
Costumes from the Baraseum
Theater, a place of refuge for
the Jewish actors excluded
from all Romanian theaters.
Books written by Jewish authors,
banned from all Romanian
bookstores and libraries.
Leon Alex
Life and Death in Black and White
Leon Alex
The Orchestra
Leon Alex
Death Dance
Leon Alex
Hallucinations
Leon Alex
The Thinker
Leon Alex
The Nightmare
Marcel Iancu
Life and Death in Black and White
Marcel Iancu
“Entire families, including children, were seized
while they were praying to the Almighty.
Rabbi Guttman, betrayed by the local priest, was
forced to assist to the shooting of his two sons,
who protested against the arrest of their father.
He himself was not touched by the bullets.
Neither the police nor the army protected the
Jews.
The criminal deeds exceed the limits of
imagination. Animals kill but do not mutilate their
victims. In this case, however, not even the
lifeless bodies were spared.
We found bodies hanging by hooks at the
slaughter house, with the inscription “Kosher”.
In the woods of Jilava, the teeth and nails of the
cadavers were torn out. “
Marcel Iancu
Bucharest, January 1941
(Extracts)
Marcel Iancu
Renowned architect, painter and sketcher in
Romania between the 2 world wars.
His last exhibition was in Bucharest in 1939.
In 1941 he immigrated to the Holy Land.
From his extremely complex creation, the
Holocaust pieces are the least known. His
admirers don’t even mention the existence of
these works. Even in Israel the respective works
were displayed and catalogued only in the year
1990.
In fact, Marcel Iancu started his Holocaust cycle
even prior to immigrating to Israel, motivated by
the gruesome events witnessed in Bucharest
during the pogrom of January 21-23, 1941. The
greatest impact was caused by the discovery at
the slaughter house of the corpse of Michael
(Mishu) Goldschlager, the artist’s brother in law.
His body was among those hanging by hooks,
with the inscription “kosher”.
The theme of the Holocaust tackled by Marcel
Iancu does not stop at the mere reflection of the
pogrom of Bucharest. Rather, the cruelties of
this event are depicted from multiple angles,
exposing the brutality of the torturers and the
suffering of the victims.
We present here drawings from the catalogue of
the exhibition "On the Edge - Holocaust
Drawings", Jerusalem, 1990
Marcel Iancu
The stretched out fingers express desperate
wails.
On the road without return
Sol. Omovici
Life and Death in Black and White
Sol. Omovici
Needless Shelter
The Convoys
During our investigation regarding the Jewish
sufferings in the years of fascist oppression, a
special attention was given to the massacre
that decimated the Jewish population of Iasi
on June 29 and June 30, 1941. What took
place at that time in the capital of Moldova,
when thousands of Jews were exterminated
by the most brutal means, constitutes a height
of bestiality and should not be forgotten.
The Jewish World Congress
Romanian Section
Sol. Omovici
• A grieving mother
• The great culpable
• The chestor courtyard
We considered necessary to reveal in this album
the works of the painter Sol. Omovici, a survivor
of the famous “Death Train" and eye witness of
the terrible tragedy.
The documentary value of the canvases featured
in the present album will speak for posterity about
this gruesome drama of an entire community,
which found itself one step away from total
annihilation.
The World Jewish Congress
Romanian Section
The Great Culpable
Sol. Omovici
• Toward the landfill
• Dumped corpses
But beyond the sentence sealing the guilt
of the sadistic assassins, the facts must be
presented in their unveiled nakedness, not
only as homage to those fallen “al kidush
HaShem”, but also as a permanent act of
accusation against the regime that initiated
and promulgated the most heinous crimes.
The World Jewish Congress
Romanian Section
Sol. Omovici
• Scene from the death train
• For a drop of water
“Once we reached the railroad station, we were
ordered to lie flat on the ground, after which they
started shoving us in crowded train cars meant
for the transport of cattle, which were hermetically
sealed thereafter.
The ones tardy in climbing up would be beaten.
Each train car was stuffed with 100-120 people,
after which the doors were locked and the
windows covered with planks. We soon realized
that the goal was our death by suffocation.”
“Crowded one against the other in standing
position, we were tortured by the intolerable
atmosphere which reigned once the sliding door
was shut.”
Sol. Omovici
• Hallucinations
• In a puddle at Podul Iloaiei
“Some ripped their garments off, delirious on top
of a mound of corpses."
“My dad had lost his mind and was biting at a plank
in the train car, laughing hysterically. He would
bite those around him, and me he tried to strangle. “
“One of my neighbors had been tied by his hand
and feet, so he wouldn’t bite those around him.
The poor man had gone mad..."
Lazar Zin
Life and Death in Black and White
Lazar Zin
• The rabbi council
congregated in a special prayer.
They are asking the Almighty to forgive the
trespasses against the Jewish laws, which
forbid the desecration of graves and the
exhumation of the bones of the dead.
The bones extracted from the ground with
great pains are being placed in paper sacs,
marked with the inscription "Made in Germany“.
The drawings of the sketcher Lazăr Zin depict
the fate of the Jewish cemetery in Bucharest,
Obliterated at the order of the Antonescu government.
Being part of the forced labor department in charge
of this sinister task, Lazăr Zin drew the ornaments
on the graves he was working to dislocate.
Lazar Zin
• Zoomorphic ornaments
specific to the symbolism of the Judaic religion.
The first fallen tree in the graveyard.
“The painter Lazãr Zin, wrote dr. M. A. Halevy,
as a remarkable artist of the forsaken people,
joined the ranks of the anonymous resistance
and had the perseverance and fortitude to collect
and preserve these documents sculpted in stone,
so important for a a historian of the culture of
Jewish Communities.”
Over the 2 years that the dislocation operations
continued at the Jewish cemetery, Lazãr Zin
realized 53 drawings depicting the graveyard
and the ornaments on the funeral stones.
Arnold Daghani
The Colors of Death
Arnold Daghani
• The Convoy and the Stables.
Depicts the moment of arrival in the camp of
Mihailovka, where the “Jewish slaves" were
housed in stables.
“Separated from the horses by a few planks,
crowded one against the other, barely able to
breath."
(aquarelle, 1942)
• Consternation
The first reaction of those beyond the barb wire.
• Guards and prisoners at the execution
site
(ink on paper)
Arnold Daghani
• The stone quarry (aquarelle, 1942)
Here the guards were amusing themselves
taking aim at empty brandy bottles placed on
the quarry walls, above the prisoners’ heads.
No one was allowed to interrupt their work.
• Snow shoveling
A replica to a drawing made in the concentration
camp in 1943.
In the winter of 1943 the Jews were sent to
shovel snow in the neighboring villages. They
were marching 30 km on foot each day, through
a fierce wind.
• Etching
Portrait of a female prisoner.
The names inscribed are those of martyrs
executed in the camps of Mihailovka.
Snow shoveling
Arnold Daghani
Etching
Portrait of a female prisoner.
The names inscribed are those of
martyrs executed in the camp of
Mihailovka.
Arnold Daghani
All day I muse, all day I cry, aye me.
I feel the pain that on me feeds, aye me.
My wound I stop not, though it bleeds,
aye me.
Toatã ziua meditez, toatã ziua plâng, vai mie.
Simt durerea care mã cuprinde,vai mie.
Rana nu mi-o tratez, deşi sângereazã,vai mie.
Selma Meerbaum Eisinger, 1924 -1942
• Pieta
the lowering of the lifeless body
of Selma from the attic
original variant,
realized in the concentration camp on
December 30, 1942
"Pieta", ulterior replica, realized in 1955
Selma Meerbaum Eisinger,
a young German language poet, was born in
Cernãuţi in 1924. She started writing poetry
at the age of 5. She died in the concentration
camp of typhus on December 16, 1942.
Her first poems, published in Israel in
1986, and in Germany in 1980, enjoyed a
resounding success.
Selma Meerbaum Eisinger,
a young German language poet, was
born in Cernãuţi in 1924. She started
writing poetry at the age of 5. She died
in the concentration camp of typhus on
December 16, 1942. Her first poems,
published in Israel in 1986, and in
Germany in 1980, enjoyed a
resounding success.
Arnold Daghani
Arnold Daghani
Mrs. Zucker, the mother of 2 twin girls.
Her husband managed to escape. She and
the little girls were shot to death on
December 10, 1943.
Fedea, a public guard. Even though
he didn’t like the portrait and did not take it,
he still paid the painter with 2 apples.
A guard recruited from amongst the locals.
Repatriated (aquarelle, 1946)
Nanino, the painters wife, at the
window of their residence in Cernãuţi. She
has a premonition of the fatal outcome.
Musia Korn was just 18 years of age, but
looked like an old man. He died of intestinal
tuberculosis. He was the last one in the
family left alive. (aquarelle, 1942)
Arnold Daghani
Berşad, a village in Transnistria,
painted from behind a window.
Here too, same as Mihailovka, the more brutal
the offensive against the deportees, the stronger
their wish to survive. (1943)
• Bersad (aquarelle, 1943)
Aurel Marculescu
Life and Death in Black and White
• After the evening prayer
• The camp at Vapniarca (bedroom)
• Firewood in the kitchen
• The camp at Vapniarca (around the stove)
I encourage you to carefully study the the lines
carved in the wood: they are harsh, painful – similar
to the life he has known. A. Marculescu doesn’t
weigh with false measures. The images remain
impregnated on the retina, their memory persists
with obsessive force, long after the last page has
been turned.
Sasha Pana
Aurel Marculescu
•
•
•
The camp of Vapniarka
In the yard of the camp
On the train, heading toward the camp
A. Mărculescu suffered the impact of the fascist
dictatorship more than other artists, since he
experienced the horrors of the deportation to
Vapniarca and other places of torture and death.
To the great benefit of the Romanian plastic arts,
he was fortunate enough to survive these events.
His health, however, was permanently damaged.
His delicate organism bears and will always bear
the unforgiving sequels of the suffering he endured.
The pain which shines through in his eyes is also
reflected in his works – gruesome and unforgiving
documents.
Creations of an artist of great depth, these works are
brilliant artistic realizations. The etchings from the
collection "Ghetto and Camp“ bear double witness
– as to events that seal the fate of a political
regime, as well as as to the unfolding of a much
tested talent.
ION PAS
Minister of the Arts
Aurel Marculescu
The massacre at Râbniţa
The group of Jews from Romania
imprisoned in the jailhouse of Râbniţa,
a small township on the left bank of
the Dniester, was executed in March
1944. As if by miracle, 3 people
managed to escape, among which the
future writer Matei Gall, author of the
novel recounting this horrific event.
The last journey
“There, on the frightening white of the
Ukraine, the shadows of the fallen are
blacker than the darkest black of the
pallet. The retina of the artist absorbs
the images, and the hand carves
with its last ounces of strengths in the
hard wood.
Lint... barb wire... hunger...
hunger... death... freedom...
At night, in the yellow light of the
field-lamp, the hand of the artist
carves away with the knife-tip.“
VICTOR RUSSU
Aurel Marculescu
In their memory
And that of over 350,000 Jews,
Romanian and Ukrainian,
exterminated under the Antonescu regime,
between 1940 - 1944
Presentation
realized and donated by
The Center for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism in Romania
Centrul pentru Monitorizarea si Combaterea AntiSemitismului
Life in the Shadow of Death
The rights to the materials featured in this presentation belong exclusively to the organizers of the exhibition “Life in the Shadow of Death”, Dr Lia
Benjamin and Irina Cajal. This presentation was realized at the request and with the permission of the organizers of the exhibition. The rights to the
digital presentation belong exclusively to MCA Romania. This presentation may be distributed, free of charge, only for educational purposes.
Photo, adaptation,arrangement and realization of the presentation - Marco Maximillian Katz
Razvan Gateaja, Ana Maria Adritoiu and George Dumitriu – Graphics and Design