St. Louis artist's 80-year-old art finding new relevance since Oct. 7

St. Louis artist’s 80-year-old art finding new relevance since Oct. 7

Miriam Friedman Morris, Special To The Jewish Light

Published December 11, 2023

Victims of the Gas Chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. 1945 oil painting by David Friedmann, from his series, Because They Were Jews! Brausebad means “shower bath” but this was a gas chamber. Copyright ©1989 Miriam Friedman Morris

This article first appeared in the Times Of Israel and is republished here with permission.

Living in peace in Israel has been a challenge since the beginning of the Jewish State. Our enemies try to wipe us off this earth Because We Are Jews! Our fight for survival and justice continues as Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and other terrorist organizations seek our annihilation. Public opinion is shocking and Jews around the world are in danger. We must speak out and Stand for Israel!

David Friedman(n)’s art would not be silent. He captured the atrocities engraved in his memory. His mission was to show his art to the world to teach the lessons of the Holocaust, but the lessons have not been learned. Austrian born David Friedmann (1893-1980) a renowned Berlin artist during the interwar years, painted his experiences from the Lodz Ghetto and Auschwitz for the world to see. He made important contributions both in the realms of 20th-century art and in the creation of materials that play a powerful humanitarian role in educating people about the reality of the Holocaust.

He produced two cycles of Holocaust art, the first in Prague from 1945 to 1948 and the second in St. Louis from 1963 to 1964 of only charcoal drawings. If you’re interested in seeing these works, contact me via email at [email protected] and I will send a free link.

I rarely share my father’s most graphic scenes of the Holocaust on public posts. I am compelled to do so now. The brutal murderous rampage by Hamas and incinerating of Jewish people demands worldwide attention and outrage! Seventy-eight years after the liberation from Nazi concentration camps, we are faced again with horrific atrocities perpetrated against innocent people only Because They Were Jews! Countless other acts of barbarity have occurred, but these are the worst since the Holocaust.

Because They Were Jews! David Friedman could not erase the horrific images from his memory. “Sometimes just for fun, the Nazis would shoot down the Jewish mothers first and then their children. There was no end to the bestialities of the Nazis.” Charcoal drawing, 1964. Copyright ©1989 Miriam Friedman Morris

A Few Seconds before Execution. 1964 charcoal drawing by David Friedman from the series, Because They Were Jews!” Thousands of Jews in Poland and Russia were hunted down because of the Nazi regimes’ plan to make all towns and villages “Judenrein” (cleansed of Jews). Copyright ©1989 Miriam Friedman Morris (mirif)

The painting of the Auschwitz gas chamber was part of my father’s traveling exhibition in Czechoslovakia in towns near the German borders in 1946. The artwork was utilized as a ‘denazification’ tool by local education councils with compulsory attendance for ethnic-Germans over the age of fifteen years. To learn more about David Friedman’s artwork, read my photo essay published in the Journal of Holocaust Research. Contact me if interested in the full article and I will send the free link.

https://www.tandfonline.com/share/JSYHGQMWNHAQ4HAD8EUI?target=10.1080/25785648.2023.2197736

This is not just Israel’s war. This is about worldwide Jewish survival and affects everyone. We must never take our freedoms for granted. Pray for Israel.