Holocaust-Related Art, 1942-1989 | Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

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Collection Overview

Title: Holocaust-Related Art, 1942-1989

Predominant Dates:1933 --1945

ID: RG-14/RG-14

Primary Creator: Pieck, Henri

Other Creators: A. Gedis, Ben-Itzhac, Liana, Haas, Leo (1901-1983), Leopold Lewicki (1906-1973), Leskly, Eli (1911-2004), Margaret Singer (1921-2019), Müller, Moritz (1887-1944), Zielezinski, George

Extent: 0.0

Arrangement:

The arrangement scheme for the record group was imposed during processing in the absence of an original order. Materials are arranged by subject/creator, then by identifier, as assigned by the processor.

Record group is comprised of six collections: 1. Lev Haas collection; 2. Henri Pieck collection; 3. George Zielezinski collection; 4. Eli Leskly collection; 5. Moritz Mueller collection; 6. Collection of Polish artwork on Nazi camp life.

Subjects: day-to-day life in ghettos, day-to-day life in Nazi concentration camps, Haas, Leo, Holocaust-related art, Lichtblau, Erich, Mueller, Moritz, Pieck, Henri, Postwar recollections of the Holocaust, Zielezinski, George

Languages: German, Czech, Polish

Abstract

These collections contains artworks in the form of graphics and watercolors created in the Nazi places of incarcerations and in the wake of liberation. The artists reflect on the inhumane conditions of Nazi concentration camps and ghettos, as well as on relations between prisoners and relations between prisoners and the camp and ghetto German personnel

Scope and Contents of the Materials

This record group is comprised of various artworks including paintings, sculpture, metal-forms, and combined compositions. The works in this record group reflect the Holocaust through the artists’ lenses. A number of artworks commemorate the Holocaust in general, while some are dedicated to specific Holocaust-related events and landmarks.

Materials within this record group include lithographs, original sketches in pen on paper, placards, postwar prints, framed artworks of the modern period. Some of the artwork is digitized.

Collection Historical Note

Post-Holocaust art, like post-Holocaust literature, stands out because it was directly induced and influenced by the enormous tragedy that the survived European Jewry lived through. For the artists represented in this record group, largely former prisoners of concentration camps and ghettos, art became the platform for their testimonies and recollections. Lev Haas, Henri Pieck, Moritz Müller and George Zielezinski exemplify this approach in their post-Holocaust art, as did Erich Lichtblau, the chronicler of Theresienstadt ghetto life.

Biographical Note

Henri Pieck was an artist, interned at Buchenwald.

Subject/Index Terms

day-to-day life in ghettos
day-to-day life in Nazi concentration camps
Haas, Leo
Holocaust-related art
Lichtblau, Erich
Mueller, Moritz
Pieck, Henri
Postwar recollections of the Holocaust
Zielezinski, George

Administrative Information

Repository: Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

Access Restrictions: No restrictions

Use Restrictions:

Copyrighted materials, credits to and references to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust are required

Digital copies might be available upon request

Preferred Citation: RG-14, Holocaust-Related Art. Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust Archive.

Processing Information: Materials are primarily described using the local descriptive standards of the LA Museum of the Holocaust.

Box and Folder Listing

Sub-Collection 3: RG-14.03, Moritz Mueller Collection, 1943-1944

Born January 11, 1887 in Liptovký Mikuláš, Czechoslovakia; died October 1944 in Auschwitz, Poland. Müller was born the youngest of four children. Shortly after his birth the family moved to Prague, where Müller grew up. He started taking private classes in drawing during his childhood and, showing a great talent later went on to the Prague Academy of Fine Arts. While he did not paint for a living, he was constantly in contact with the art world. He opened in Prague a private school for drawing, enrolled in the Mánes Artists Association, and after World War I established an auction hall for arts in one of Prague’s liveliest cultural and social centers. Müller is recorded as being popular and well liked among both Czech and German art collectors as well as the among the artists themselves. After the Nazi occupation, his auction hall was robbed and closed, and Müller worked for the Prague Jewish Community appraising the art objects from the confiscated Jewish properties.

On July 8, 1943, Müller was deported as “passenger” 424 on Transport Dh to Theresienstadt, where he spent the last fourteen months of his life.

Despite his background as a professional artist, he was not occupied in the Ghetto art workshops or in the Technical Department with many of the other artists; rather, he worked as an orderly in the Urological ward of Dr. Kurt Weiner in the Engineers barracks.

Many of Müller’s minimum of five hundred works were portraits of the ill, crippled and dying-- some beauteous, some witty, some shocking. During his first few months at Theresienstadt, Müller drew at least one picture a day, often more. As his internment continued, however, he drew less, each picture taking more time. He dated every picture he made.

On October 1, 1944, as “passenger” 535 on Transport Em, a month and a half after his he completed his last picture dated August 16, 1944, Müller was deported to Auschwitz, where he was apparently gassed to death on October 3, 1944, the day the transport arrived.

Subject/Index Terms:: Theresienstadt ghetto, urological ward; Holocaust-related art; Living conditions in concentration camps; Theresienstadt ghetto

Creators:: Müller, Moritz (1887-1944)

Document/Artifact of Item-Level 1: RG-14.03.01, Moritz Mueller, Urological Ward, Theresienstadt, October 1943

A black and white sketch of patients in the Urological Ward.

Subject/Index Terms:: Theresienstadt ghetto, urological ward; Theresienstadt ghetto; Living conditions in concentration camps; Holocaust-related art; Terezin (Czechoslovakia); Czechoslovakia (1939 -- 1945)

Creators:: Müller, Moritz (1887-1944)

Document/Artifact of Item-Level 2: RG-14.03.02, Moritz Mueller, a fragment with signature, October 1943

A fragment of the sketch, "Urological Ward." It includes a note with Moritz Mueller's signature.

Subject/Index Terms:: Theresienstadt ghetto, urological ward; Holocaust-related art; Living conditions in concentration camps; Theresienstadt ghetto; Terezin (Czechoslovakia); Czechoslovakia (1939 -- 1945)

Creators:: Müller, Moritz (1887-1944)

Document/Artifact of Item-Level 3: RG-14.03.03, Moritz Mueller, a fragment with date, October 1943

A fragement of the sketch, "Urological Ward." The fragment includes the date of the sketch.

Subject/Index Terms:: Holocaust-related art; Living conditions in concentration camps; Theresienstadt ghetto; Theresienstadt ghetto, urological ward; Terezin (Czechoslovakia); Czechoslovakia (1939 -- 1945)

Creators:: Müller, Moritz (1887-1944)

Document/Artifact of Item-Level 4: RG-14.03.04, Moritz Mueller, A hospital room, two patients, November 1943

A sketch of two patients in the hospital room. It is dated and signed by Moritz Mueller.

Subject/Index Terms:: Living conditions in concentration camps; Holocaust-related art; Theresienstadt ghetto; Theresienstadt ghetto, urological ward; Terezin (Czechoslovakia); Czechoslovakia (1939 -- 1945)

Creators:: Müller, Moritz (1887-1944)

Document/Artifact of Item-Level 5: RG-14.03.05, Moritz Mueller, Dr, Weiner examines patient, February 28, 1944

In this sketch Dr. Kurt Weiner examines a patient.

Subject/Index Terms:: Living conditions in concentration camps; Theresienstadt ghetto; Theresienstadt ghetto, urological ward; Holocaust-related art; Terezin (Czechoslovakia); Czechoslovakia (1939 -- 1945)

Creators:: Müller, Moritz (1887-1944)

Document/Artifact of Item-Level 6: RG-14.03.06, Moritz Mueller, A Male Patient in Bed, March 21, 1944

A sketch of a male patient in bed.

Subject/Index Terms:: Holocaust-related art; Theresienstadt ghetto; Living conditions in concentration camps; Theresienstadt ghetto, urological ward; Terezin (Czechoslovakia); Czechoslovakia (1939 -- 1945)

Creators:: Müller, Moritz (1887-1944)

Document/Artifact of Item-Level 7: RG-14.03.07, Moritz Mueller, A Male Patient in Bed, backside, March 21, 1944

The backside of Moritz Mueller's sketch of, " A Male Patient in Bed."

Subject/Index Terms:: Living conditions in concentration camps; Holocaust-related art; Theresienstadt ghetto; Theresienstadt ghetto, urological ward; Terezin (Czechoslovakia); Czechoslovakia (1939 -- 1945)

Creators:: Müller, Moritz (1887-1944)

Document/Artifact of Item-Level 8: RG-14.03.08, Moritz Mueller, August 1943

A sketch of a room, signed by Moritz Mueller and dated on August 1943.

Subject/Index Terms:: Living conditions in concentration camps; Holocaust-related art; Theresienstadt ghetto; Theresienstadt ghetto, urological ward; Terezin (Czechoslovakia); Czechoslovakia (1939 -- 1945)

Creators:: Müller, Moritz (1887-1944)