Language:
English
Year of publication:
1998
Titel der Quelle:
Past and Present
Angaben zur Quelle:
161 (1998) 191-235
Keywords:
Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
;
Jewish children in the Holocaust
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), and art
;
Jews
Abstract:
Ca. 4,000 drawings and paintings by children interned in Theresienstadt, and subsequently killed, were recovered when the camp was liberated in 1945. The works were created mostly by girls, under the tutelage of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, who saw art as a form of creative release. Only a small fraction of the pictures depict life in the ghetto; many depict images of home and the countryside, and convey optimism. Queries whether the optimistic paintings actually reflect the children's attitudes. Describes the children's homes - including cultural activities and warm relationships - as a largely positive experience of communal life. Observes that the works depicting life in the ghetto tend to compartmentalize the "good" of the children's homes and the "bad" of the adult barracks. Although the children were aware of the suffering of the adults, they seemingly concentrated on their own experiences, memories, and hopes for the future. The question of whether the reticence of the children to depict suffering should be attributed to trauma or was itself part of a coping strategy cannot be answered.
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