RESONANCE - NEVER FORGET
Portrait series of children,
that were murdered in Auschwitz
In 2022, I began this work of remembrance. For me, this has become my way of not forgetting. Even though my research into the lives of these children often reveals only scant information, I want to live my remembering by portraying these children and thereby giving them a space in my life. While their death and suffering are unspeakable (whose depiction I would only fail at), I am interested in artistically translating the homage to their vitality into my very colorful color palette. This portrait series, which I continue to work on continuously, received a lot of encouragement at exhibitions in Solingen and Cologne in 2023, as well as in Hamburg in 2024. A visitor to the exhibition wrote:
“... artistic expression is a very important contribution to dialogue. With your pictures, you communicate what moves you, you show it to us literally, and that is very important for our generation, which did not experience the Holocaust in person. We must Never Forget, and we want to work to ensure that something like this never happens again. Thank you!”
Homage to Betje Polak
03/11/2022
59 x 46 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Betje Polak was born on the 6th of December 1928 and was murdered in Auschwitz on the 19th of October 1942, with only 13 years of age. I made this portrait as part of a series “Resonance - Never Forget”. What were her hopes (as a 13-year-old)? What were her dreams? What could Betje have still brought to life if her life wasn't taken away from her?
For me the painting of the portraits, who were murdered in Auschwitz, is a chance to never forget to honour their lives. Their fate is infinitely tragic and their death unfathomably senseless. I can not change the past, only the now. With these portraits, I want to celebrate their lives and all their unflowered potential. Painting these children has made each of them come alive in my life. It is, in a certain way, as if I were taking them home with me. I now know each of them by name and although I know little of their short lives based on the few details I could find on the internet, I, for one, will certainly never forget them.
Links to Betje Polak:
Homage to David Sobol
10/01/2023
60 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
On September 26, 1930, David Sobol was born. He was tragically killed in Auschwitz at the age of 14 in 1944 as a result of Nazi atrocities committed during 1944. The Sobol family, originally from Montreuil, France, lived in Brussels during the war. Both of David's parents were born in Poland. Apart from a brother who died of appendicitis, all members of the Sobol family were deported after being denounced and were sent on the last transport to Auschwitz from Malines on July 31, 1944. Only David's brother Paul (19) and sister Bella-Betsy (17) were able to return home. Five Memorial Stones have been placed in front of the Sobol family's last residence in Brussels to honor their memory.
The portrait is part of a series called "Resonance - Never Forget". For me, portraying is a form of contemplation of the life of the person. The choice of color palette is meant to celebrate who David was and what he could have become. Working on the portrait raises questions about David's hopes for his future, his talents, what made him smile and what he could have accomplished if his life had not been taken away in Auschwitz.
Links to further infromation on David Sobol
Homage to Marcel Bulka
10/01/2023
60 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Marcel Bulka, also known as Majer, was born on September 29th, 1930 in Kalisz, Poland. Along with his brother Albert, he lived in a summer camp in Izieu, France, with 43 other children from various countries. The camp was run by a Jewish association and was used to hide children from the Nazis. However, the camp was reported to the Gestapo and all of the children were arrested, taken to a camp in Darcy, and then deported to Auschwitz on June 28th, 1939. Marcel and all of the other children were killed in Auschwitz by April 16th, 1944. Marcel was only 13 years old at the time of his death.
This portrait of Marcel is part of my series "Resonance - Never forget". Each portrait of these children is for me a way of contemplating their lives. While I am saddened by his fate and the cruelty that he was killed, I want to celebrate and honor his life and potential with this portrait.
Links to further information on Marcel Bulka
Homage to Helga Moszkowicz
10/01/2023
60 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Helga Moszkowicz was born on June 24th, 1930 in Essen, Germany. Sadly, at the tender age of 12, she met a tragic end at the hands of the Nazis, as she was murdered in Auschwitz on September 24th, 1942.
In August 1942, the Moszkowicz family, along with other Jewish families from Limburg, were rounded up and taken to the Westerbork transit camp, known as the "Gate to Hell." From there, they were deported to Auschwitz on September 21st, 1942. Upon arrival, Helga, her sister, one of her two brothers and her mother were immediately killed in the gas chambers. Her father was murdered at the end of the war. Helga's brother Max was the only one to survive and went on to become a renowned lawyer and founded his own law firm in Maastricht.
I painted this portrait as part of my Resonance - Never Forget series. For me, each of these portraits is a kind of reflection on the life of the person I am painting. What were Helga's hopes (as a 12-year-old)? What were your dreams? What could have brought Helga to life if her life had not been taken?
Links to further infromation on Helga Moszkowicz:
Homage to Herman Levie
10/01/2023
59 x 46 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Herman Levie was born on December 7th, 1933 and was tragically murdered in Auschwitz on August 10th, 1942 at the young age of 9. He lived in Meppel, Netherlands during the war and his father, Jopie Levie, owned a store called "De Grote Bazar" and a market stall selling trinkets. Herman had 9 siblings, two of whom passed away in infancy. In August 1942, Jopie was forced to work in a Nazi labor camp in Orvelte. When he came home on leave on October 2nd, the entire Levie family was apprehended by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz.
Each of these portraits is for me a contemplation of sorts on the life of the person I am portraying. My choice of a colour palette is meant as a celebration of who he was and what he could have still become.
What were his hopes (as a 9-year-old)? What were his dreams? What could Herman have brought to life if his life wasn't taken away from him?
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Links - Information on Herman Levie:
Homage to Mathilde Renate Rothschild
10/01/2023
59 x 46 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Mathilde Renate, born on 06.01.1925. In 1942 she and her two sisters were deported to Auschwitz. Mathilde was only 17 years old when she was murdered in Auschwitz.
The Rothschild-Florsheim family had lived at in Leuven in Belgium. Jacob Ruben Rothschild, a businessman, and his wife Flora Florsheim, fled from Hamburg to Belgium already in 1933 to escape the Nazi regime, along with their children: Mathilde Renate, Hanna, Noemi and Julius. Only 3 of the entire family of 4 adults and 9 kinds survived the Holocaust.
Links to Mathilde Renate Rothschild:
Information on Mathilde Renate Rothschild on Stolperstein guide
Homage to Eveline Israelowic
24/12/2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Eveline Israelowicz, was murdered in Auschwitz at the age of 15. She was born 30 October 1926 in Essen Germany. The family Israelowicz moved in the fall of 1933 to Rotterdam. The family eventually moved to Hilversum. She was 13 when in May 1940 the Germans invade the Netherlands. From September 1, 1941, Jewish children had to go to separate schools and were no longer allowed to go to public schools. In 1942 the Germans forced her family to live in Asterdorp under duress of anti-Jewish measures. In August 1942 they were brought to Auschwitz. I assume this was via Camp Westerbork, Netherlands, a place known as “the gateway to Hell”. It was a transit camp to concentration camps like Auschwitz and Sobibor. Around 30-09-1942 she was murdered in Auschwitz at the age of 15.
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This portrait of Eveline is part of my series “Resonance - Never Forget”. Her life was taken by Germans adhering to an evil racist regime. Each portrait of these children is a contemplation of sorts for me, on their life. While her death pains me in its dimensions of evil, heartlessness and senselessness, I still want to celebrate her life with this work.
Links to Eveline Israelowic:
Homage to Dina Zwarts
01/11/2022
59 x 46 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Dina Zwarts was born in Raalte on the 30th of March 1928. At only 14 years of age, she was killed by the Nazis in Auschwitz on the 29th of October 1942. I made this portrait as part of my series “Resonance - Never Forget”.
Each of these portraits is for me a contemplation of sorts on the life of the person I am portraying. My choice of a colour palette is meant as a celebration of who she was and what she could have still become.
What were her hopes (as a 14-year-old)? What were her dreams? What could Dina have brought to life if her life wasn't taken away from her?
Links - Information on Dina Zwarts:
Homage to Amalie Kosses
24/12/2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
On February 19, 1943, Amalie Kosses, who was only 10 years old, was murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. She had been born in Oude Pekela, Netherlands on April 20, 1932. It is a macabre coincidence that her birthday falls on the same day as of the man responsible for her death and that of her family. Amalie was the youngest child of Jeizel Kosses and Auguste Kosses-van der Zijl and her father was a butcher from an old butcher family. During the night of November 27 to 28, 1943, Amalie and her family were taken from their home and on February 16, 1943 were put on a train to Auschwitz, where they were all killed.
The portrait is part of the series called "Resonance - Never Forget". For the artist, portraying is a form of contemplation of the life of the person. The choice of color palette is meant to celebrate who Amalie was and what she could have become. Working on the portrait raises questions about Amalie's hopes for her future, her talents, what made her smile and what she could have accomplished if her life had not been taken away in Auschwitz.
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Links to Amalie Kosses:
Homage to Betje Sophie Boektje
20/12/2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Betje Sophie Boektje was born in 1927 in Kampen in the Netherlands and was murdered in Auschwitz on the 3rd of December 1942, with only 15 years of age.
In 1942 Betje Sophie had been enrolled in the 3rd class of the Jewish Lyceum in Zwolle.
Her father, Salomon Boektje, had a shop in Kampen selling lamps, household items and sports equipment. Salomon was the chairman of the Dutch Israeli communities in Kampen.
I made this portrait as part of a series “Resonance - Never Forget”. Each of these portraits is for me a contemplation of sorts on the life of the person I am portraying. My choice of a colour palette is meant as a celebration of who she was and what she could have still become.
Beyond the unfathomable terror and fear of the Nazi regime, what was Betje's dream (as a 15 year-old)? What were her plans for the future (that was taken away from her)? How many things could Betje have accomplished with her life if she had had the chance?
Links to Dina Zwarts:
Homage to Margarete Sander
31/10/2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Margaret Sander, also known as Grete, was 15 years old when she died in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. She and her brother were sent to the Netherlands by their parents in an effort to keep them safe from the Nazis. While her brother planed and succeeded to flee to Israel on his own account, Grete did not go with him, she felt safe with her guest family in Groningen. However, when the Nazis occupied the Netherlands, Grete and her host family were taken to Auschwitz and killed in the gas chambers. In 2012, a Stolperstein, a type of memorial marker, was placed in Oberhausen, where Grete had lived.
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In a way, each portrait I make is a contemplation of sorts on the life of the person I am portraying. Also, Grete looked back at me from the painting. Her death is upsetting. The injustice of it all remains maddening. Most of all I wanted to express what we lost when she was killed. My choice of a colour palette is meant as a celebration of who she was and what she could have still become. What were her hopes (as a 15-year-old)? What were her dreams? What could Grete have brought to life if her life wasn't taken away from her? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I can imagine many paths she could have chosen and the impacts that her life could have had if it had not been taken away.
Painting these kids that were murdered in Auschwitz is a way for me to never forget.
Links to Margarete Sander:
Homage to Barett Greenman
01/11/2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Barnett Greenman, a 2-year-old, was killed in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Barnett's father recounted a harrowing journey, traveling for 36 hours across Europe with no food or water, only to arrive at the death camp of Auschwitz. Upon arrival, the snow outside the train was filled with suitcases abandoned by those who had arrived before them. While Barnett's father was selected for forced labor, Barnett's mother and Barnett were taken to the gas chambers and killed almost immediately.
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The portrait is part of a series called "Resonance - Never Forget". For the artist, portraiture is a form of contemplation about the life of the person, even if he knows very little about the individual and their life. The choice of color palette is meant to celebrate the person Barnett was and what he could have become.
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Links to Barett Greenman
Homage to Levie Ekstein
10/01/2023
59 x 46 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Levie Ekstein, born on July 12, 1932, was only 10 years old when he was killed in Auschwitz. He and his family, which included his siblings Aaltje, Esther, and Hartog, and their mother Rosa, lived in Eindhoven in the Netherlands during the war. Levie's father, Lazarus Ekstein, owned a flower shop in the city center. On November 12, 1942, they were taken to Westerbork, which was known as the "gate to hell," and then deported to Auschwitz on November 20, where they were killed upon arrival on November 23.
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The portrait is part of the series called "Resonance - Never Forget". For me, portraying is a form of contemplation of the life of the person. The choice of color palette is meant to celebrate who Levie was and what he could have become. Working on the portrait makes me wonder about Levie's hopes for his future, his talents, what made him smile and what could he have accomplished if his life had not been taken away in Auschwitz.
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Links to Levie Ekstein:
Homage to Boris-Maurice Gurman
10/01/2023
59 x 46 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
On June 12, 1943, the Gestapo raided at 4 am in the morning the boarding school where Boris-Maurice and other Jewish kids were being hidden from the Nazis. The Germans rounded up 12 children, as well as the director of the school, her husband, and a teacher. They were taken and imprisoned to be deported to Auschwitz on 31/07/1943. Boris-Maurice was gassed on arrival. Boris-Maurice was only 10 years old.
Today you can find his “Stumbling Stone” at Rue André Fauchille Nr. 10 in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre in Brussels, Belgium. His golden pavement tile, together with 14 more, commemorates the raid during which they were captured. Like Boris-Maurice most of them were killed in Auschwitz.
This portrait of Boris-Maurice is part of my series “Resonance - Never Forget”. His life was taken by Germans adhering to racist Nazi ideology, only because Boris-Maurice was Jewish.
Each portrait of these children is a contemplation of sorts for me, on their life. While I am sad about his fate and the cruelty of him getting killed. I want to celebrate his life with this portrait in homage and all that potential that he held.
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Links to Boris-Maurice Gurman:
Homage to Isaac Wolf
10/01/2023
60 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Isaac Wolff was born on October 27, 1928, in Sittard, the Netherlands. On September 3, 1943, he was murdered in Auschwitz. He was only 14 at the time.
The Germans first took Isaac Wolff to Camp Vught, a concentration camp. From there, he was transported on the so-called children's transport to Westerbork, also known as the KZ "gate to hell," on June 6, 1943. Isaac Wolff was transported to Auschwitz on August 31, 1943, and was killed there.
The portrait is part of a series called "Resonance - Never Forget". For me, portraiture is a form of contemplation about the life of the person, even if I know very little about the individual and their life. The choice of color palette is meant to celebrate the person Isaac was and what he could have become.
Links to further infromation on Isaac Wolff:
Homage to Natan Bibrowski
10/01/2023
60 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Natan Bibrowski was born on November 2nd, 1925. In 1942, he died in Auschwitz as a result of the mistreatment and suffering inflicted upon him by the Nazis. Together with his brother, Natan received an "Arbeits Einsatzbefehl" - a letter ordering him to report to the Dossin barracks under the guise of going to work. Natan and his brother David obeyed the German order and reported to the Dossin barracks in Mechelen. They were then deported on the first transport.
On August 4th, 1942, the two brothers were sent on the same train, but were not in the same carriage. Their names on the transport lists are the last trace that was found of them. Once they arrived in Auschwitz, it is unclear what happened to them after the selection process. There is no record of their deaths or any registration forms for the two brothers. It is not known if they were used as forced labor in the camp or were immediately taken to the gas chambers at Birkenau upon arrival. Natan was 16 years old when they arrived at Auschwitz and was old enough to be used as forced labor in the concentration camp or in one of the nearby satellite camps. However, there is no surviving record of this as many documents were destroyed by the Nazis before the evacuation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.
Links to further information on Natan Bibrowski
Homage to Eva Bremer
01/11/2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Eva Bremer was born in Rotterdam, on 28 January 1932. She was deported to Auschwitz together with her younger brother Joseph Bremer. They were murdered in a gas chamber with their mother Lena on 5 August 1942. She was only 10 years old.
A Stolpersteine ​​was placed for Eva Bremer at her home address, Pijnackerplein 42 B in Rotterdam. Approx. 18,000 children in the Netherlands were deported and murdered by the Nazis.
This portrait of Eva is part of my series “Resonance - Never Forget”. Her life was taken by Germans adhering to racist Nazi ideology, only because Eva was Jewish.
Each portrait of these children is a contemplation of sorts for me, on their life. While I am sad about her fate and the senselessness of what she had to suffer, I want to celebrate her life and all that potential that is brimming from her smile with this portrait.
Links to information about Eva Bremer
Homage to Dvora Birnberg
18/12/2023
60 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
In homage to Dvora Birnberg, who was deported to Auschwitz and killed. She was only 10 years old. Dvora was born in 1934 in Bistritz, Romania. She was the daughter of Yaakov and Sarah Birnberg. In 1944, the Jewish family was deported to Auschwitz, where they were murdered upon arrival.
Given the conflicts of today, it appears that humanity has dementia. It seems that we choose to forget the atrocities we have committed in the past. We readily excuse acts of violence and terror committed against people we believe to be on the wrong side of the fence. Ultimately, the goal is always to maintain or increase one's power over others. The perpetrators consistently assert the righteousness of their cause. Why do we back these opportunists for power? When will we stop to forget? When will the banality of evil cease to corrupt us? Remembering Dvora Birnberg entails remembering all of the "Dvoras" of today who run the risk of experiencing her destiny once more.
Links to information about Dvora Birnberg
Homage to Dvora Birnberg
18/12/2023
60 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Janos was born in Belgrad. Yugoslavia in 1941. Prior to WWII he lived with his parents in Kula, Yugoslavia. Janos was only 3 when he was murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau on May 1944. The mass internment of the Jewish population began on December 8, 1941. The Jews of Belgrade were called upon to report to the Serbian special police and hand over their house and apartment keys. Most of the 12,500 Jews living in Serbia at the time were brought to concentration camps in Yugoslavia. Some were transported to German concentration camps such as Auschwitz, Buchenwald or Mauthausen. Janos was one of them.
From various sources I learned that Janos’ father, a lawyer, was murdered by the Nazis in Russia at Nikolajevka, Smidovichsky District, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Russia, at the age of 30 in 1943. How and why he ended up there (far away from his family) I could not find out.
Janos’ mother, Shoshana Barna, somehow survived the Holocaust and lived in Israel. If she is still alive, she will be 106 years old this year. I cannot even begin to imagine what it is must be for a mother having lost her child in Auschwitz.
Janos was just starting his life. The photo I found of Janos, on which I based this portrait, shows him as a joyous boy with bright eyes. He might have been looking at his mother as the photographer captured the shot. What could have become of him, if his life wasn’t taken? How many lives could Janos Barna have touched? Janos lost his life for a nonsense ideology that was allowed to devour in Auschwitz alone 232,000 infants, children and young people up to the age of 17. They were deported to the Auschwitz extermination camp or were born there under unimaginable conditions. Alone 216,300 were Jews, 11,000 were Sinti and Roma. Only a few hundred survived Auschwitz.
Links to information about Janos Barna
Hommage an Lotte Hermine Schiffer
28.10.2023
60 x 45 cm (H x B)
In homage to Lotte Hermina Schiffer - Lotte was only 10 years of age when she was murdered in Auschwitz on January 26, 1943. Whilst I searched many hours, I could not find much about her live. She was born on November 6 in 1932 in Hradec Kralove, Czechoslovakia and lived in the city of Dvůr Králové nad Labem, which is now in the Czech Republic. The parents of Lotte, Lilli and Alexander (also murdered in Auschwitz) would have referred to the town by Königinhof an der Elbe. The portrait is based on a photo of Lotte at the age of 3 ½ that her mother sends to her friend (or relative) Lini in the summer of 1936.
Lotte had talents and hopes for the future. We will never know what she and we lost. I wish to honor and commemorate Lotte's life, which was full of endless potential before she was horridly murdered. The fact that she and all other Holocaust victims were killed because of an absurd ideology that garnered widespread support in Nazi-led Germany is the uncomfortable and scary truth. When Hanna Arendt talks about the banality of evil, I am aghast by the power it had over Lotte’s life and still has on all our lives.
The banal and stupid are still the drivers of unspeakable horrors and evil to this day. The vast majority of us want to live on a peaceful planet, that thrives on cooperation and the common good. That is our true legacy, as today's anthropologists explain. For me, a part of to-never-forget is to be on the watch-out for the cancerous cells of the banality of evil – unfortunately on the growth again – and to take a stance for a world that is based on the golden rule. The world most of us want to live in is not led by the banality of evil but by the potential of good. To me that is not naïve, but the only way forward that has a chance of success.
Links zu weiteren Informationen über Lotte Hermine Schiffer
Hommage an Eva Redischova
02/03/2024
60 x 45 cm (H x W)
Eva Redischova was born on August 6, 1931, in Prague, Czechoslovakia, into a Jewish family. She was the sister of Helene (born in 1925), who survived the war, and the daughter of Eliška and Arnošt Redischova.
At the age of seven, Eva experienced the repercussions of the 1938 Munich Agreement and the subsequent German occupation of the Sudetenland, which led to the enforcement of the first anti-Jewish laws in Czechoslovakia. The situation worsened when Germany took over the remaining Czech territories in March 1939. From 1941, when Eva was ten years old, she was forced to wear the yellow star, a mark intended for public stigmatization. Like many other Jews in Czechoslovakia, Eva likely endured forced relocation from her home, living in overcrowded and inadequate conditions.
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On September 12, 1942, Eva and her family were deported by the Nazis to the Theresienstadt Ghetto. However, this was only a temporary stop before being transported to Auschwitz, as was the fate of so many. Tragically, on October 23, 1944, at the tender age of just 13, Eva was murdered in a gas chamber at Auschwitz.
While dreams and hopes for the future are natural for adolescents Eva’s age, the Nazi occupation had severely restricted such possibilities for her. Any hopes for education, professional development, or personal fulfillment were overshadowed by the immediate struggle for survival under Nazi rule.
I imagine that Eva’s thoughts and experiences as a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl living in occupied Prague were shaped by a complex interplay of fear, resilience, grief, and defiance against Nazi persecution. Her daily life was defined by the harsh realities of occupation and antisemitism, yet she may have found moments of hope and solidarity within her community, even amidst the looming threat of the Holocaust.
What could have become of her? What potential remained untapped, and what talents might have flourished had they not been extinguished by the German Nazi regime?
It is deeply unsettling to acknowledge how easy it was—and still is—to initiate narratives that irrationally and brutally discriminate against specific groups of people. The lack of factual basis in these narratives does not deter them; they assert their own truth. History should have taught us that once these storytellers are given a platform, their influence can rapidly escalate into destructive widespread effects, leading to immense suffering and systematic murder in the name of the narrative. We observe such narratives being spread globally today, with a resurgence of antisemitism being particularly alarming. It is all too easy to ignore this reality. The smooth-sounding stories of populists, promising solutions to all problems, unfortunately lead a large part of society to accept and willingly support the marginalized few as a "necessary" sacrifice.
Links zu Informationen über Eva Redischova
Hommage an Jeannine Nicole Heimer
12/01/2024
60 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Jeannine was born on June 25, 1929, in Paris, France. She is deported to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp 28th of October 1943 together with her parents Daniel David and Suzanne Germaine and her brother Maurice. All lose their lives in Auschwitz. Jeannine was only 14 years old when she died on 2nd of November in 1943.
It is still startling and distressing to consider the stupidity, inhumanity and injustice that leads to the loss of Jeannine's young life. I find it saddening what murderous violence people are ready to exert to this day based only on their believes and narcissistic self-righteousness. Our believes can be inspiring and a driver for greatness and hope, but woe betide when it becomes your source of power over others.
The thought of the ignorance, cruelty, and unfairness that resulted in Jeannine's early death still shocks and disturbs me. I find it saddening what lethal violence some are ready to exert to this day based just on their believes about reality. Though our beliefs (religious, philosophical, or political) can serve as a source of inspiration, greatness, and hope, they also can become a cause of bad judgement, a convenient justification for cruel power over others, and might even go as far as delivering the perfect vindication for taking the lives of others. I’d venture to say that this inherent danger is true for all believes, not excluding my own.
This portrait is part of a series called "Resonance - Never Forget". For me, portraying is a form of contemplation of the life of the person. The choice of color palette is meant to celebrate who Jeannine was and what she could have become. Working on the portrait raises questions about Jeannine's hopes for his future, her talents, what made her smile and what she could have accomplished if her life had not been taken away in Auschwitz.
Links zu Informationen über Jeannine Nicole Colette Heimer
Hommage an Erika Lowy
06/03/2024
60 x 45 cm (h x w) acrylic on paper
Erika Lowy was born in Bratislava in 1936 into a Jewish family. She was the daughter of Viola and Hugo Lowy. In 1944, she was deported to Auschwitz where she and her mother were killed upon arrival. Erika was 8 years old.
Erika was 3 years old when Slovakia declared independence from Czechoslovakia in 1939, becoming a fascist-authoritarian puppet state of Nazi Germany. She was 4 when all Jews were required to wear a yellow six-pointed star on their clothing. By then, all Jews had already been completely marginalized from public life. Graffiti on the city's walls proclaimed, "The Jew is our enemy." From 1942, many Slovak Jews were deported to the extermination camps in Poland. Slovakia even paid Germany 500 Reichsmarks for each deported Jew.
I could not find any information on what exactly happened to Erika and her family. Presumably, her family was initially taken to a collection camp and then transported to Auschwitz in one of the last transports before the end of March 1944.
Overall, about 58,000 Slovak Jews (two-thirds of the Jewish population) were deported.
What were Erika's hopes and dreams? What would have become of her without the persecution and her senseless death?
Links - Informationen über Erika Lowy:
Homage to Adolf Immergut
19/12/2023
60 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Adolf Immergut was only 14 when he died in Auschwitz. Born on the 31st of July, 1928 in Pilzen, Czechoslovakia, he was the son of Robert Immergut and Olga nee Lederer. Together with 140000 other Jews he and his family were rounded up by the Nazis in the Theresianstadt Ghetto in January 1942. In October 1942 they were deported from there to Auschwitz. He did not survive.
The portrait is part of a series called "Resonance - Never Forget". For me, portraiture is a form of contemplation about the life of the person, even if I know very little about the individual and their life. The choice of colour palette is meant to celebrate the person Adolf Immergut was and what he could have become.
Links to information about Adolf Immergut
Hommage an Sabine Herszlikowitz
28/09/2024
60 x 45 cm (H x W) acrylic on paper
Sabine Herszlikowitz, a young Jewish girl, was born on March 27, 1936, in Paris. Her life was tragically cut short when she was murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau on February 11, 1943, at just 6 and a half years old. Her story serves as a poignant reminder of the many innocent lives lost during the Holocaust. What poetry or science might Sabine have created? What love, strength, laughter, and joy could she have brought into the world? What insights or contributions to humanity were lost to us due to her senseless murder?
Even today, children are losing their lives at the hands of people who neither respect them nor care about the deadly consequences for these children. Children are falling victim to abuse of power—not only through politics and war but also through economic decisions, business practices, and, on a large scale, through the climate change we continue to drive forward. The resulting deaths of children are morally justified by those responsible, dismissed as collateral damage, necessary sacrifices for some declared greater good, or simply seen as unavoidable. While I do not intend to equate today’s atrocities against children with the systematic killing machinery of the Nazis, such actions still reflect shocking cruelty, total lack of compassion, and a pathological arrogance, fueled by the narcissistic belief that there is a justification for actions that knowingly accept the deaths of children.
Little Sabine was murdered in a gas chamber as part of the so-called Final Solution. It is difficult to comprehend what drove people at the time to embrace such contempt for human dignity. Hannah Arendt aptly pointed out that evil requires nothing more than banality. I fear that this same banality still drives our political decisions today—a situation we should all approach with caution. How can we escape the banality of evil? What must I do to avoid becoming complicit? Will I one day tell my grandchildren that my actions were driven solely by self-preservation, a false sense of duty to my insulated corner of society, or—worse still—by the conviction that I was acting pragmatically?
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Links - Informationen über Sabine Herszlikowitz:
Homage to Freda Rojzner
01/03/2023
60 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Freda Rojzner was born on March 20, 1933, in Paris. She was the daughter of Polish-Jewish parents Golda Laia and Meyer Rojzner. The Nazis won 43.9% of the vote in the German Reichstag elections in the month of her birth, and the so-called "Expert Committee on Questions of Population and Racial Policy" was established that year. 57 rue de Montreuil was Freda Rojzner's address (11th arr.) in Paris.
When German forces invaded Paris on June 14, 1940, she was 7 years old. She had to wear the mandatory yellow Star of David badge, just like every other Jewish resident of Paris. Threats from anti-Semitic people plagued her for years. The methodical deportation started in 1942, when she was nine years old. In convoy 68 on February 10, 1944, Freda and her family were deported. After being brought to the concentration camp, she was killed in the gas chamber. The 77th convoy, was the last to bring Jews to Auschwitz from France on August 3rd. How I wish she could have escaped for a few more months this horrific nightmare that took her life. 4115 children from France had been deported by the Nazis.
Which dreams did Freda have? She grew up in a city where the cultural landscape was being actively shaped by artists such as Andre Breton, Jonan Miró, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso. Had she not been abducted at the age of ten, who knows what skills she possessed and what she may have contributed? Who gave the populist monsters the support to execute their inhuman ideology? Who is supporting today’s populist and the growing antisemitism? Resist the beginnings!
Links to information about Freda Rojzner
Hommage an
Jacqueline Blanche Renée Zemmour
10/11/2024
60 x 45 cm (H x W) acrylic on paper
Jacqueline Blanche Renée Zemmour was a young French girl, born on May 9, 1939, in Chamigny, France. Tragically, she became a victim of the Holocaust, losing her life in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on February 12, 1944, at just five years old. As a member of a Jewish family, her life was ended during a period of profound suffering. Her story, like so many others, stands as a solemn reminder of the countless lives lost in this dark chapter of history.
What might have become of Jacqueline? What dreams did she hold? What talents and potential were lost in the senseless killing of Jacqueline?
Links - Informationen über
Jacqueline Blanche Renée Zemmour:
Hommage an Adriana Revere
29/09/2024
60 x 45 cm (H x W) acrylic on paper
I know so little about Adriana Revere. She was born on December 18, 1934, in La Spezia, Italy. Just nine years old when her life was cruelly taken, she is, for me, both a vivid presence after I spent many weeks drawing her portrait and a haunting absence.
Adriana’s story is one of unimaginable tragedy. Her parents, Emilia De Benedetti and Enrico Revere, were arrested in Vezzano Ligure for belonging to the "Jewish race." Adriana was captured alongside them and sent to the Fossoli concentration camp. On February 22, 1944, the family was deported to Auschwitz. Upon arrival on February 24, 1944, Adriana and her mother were murdered. Her father, transferred to Flossenbürg, was killed eight months later.
Adriana’s life was stolen, along with the boundless possibilities it held. The hateful pseudo-theories of racial superiority that fueled the Holocaust didn’t just destroy lives—they obliterated the unique contributions each life could have brought to our world. What kind of person might Adriana have grown up to be? What impact could she have had on her family, her community, or the world?
I reflect on her story with both sorrow and anger. Adriana deserved the chance to live, grow, and thrive. Through this portrait, I want to honor her as more than a victim of history. She is a celebration of life—not just one among millions of Holocaust victims, but a vivid reminder of what we must protect in our world: the irreplaceable value of every individual.
Links - Informationen über Adriana Revere: