‘Because They Were Jews!’ The Postwar Artworks of David Friedmann as Eyewitness Testimonies

ABSTRACT

This essay presents the work of David Friedman(n) (1893–1980), a renowned Berlin artist whose successful prewar career abruptly ended when Hitler came to power. He was banned from his profession, chased from his home, and his first wife and daughter were murdered. The Nazis looted his work and destroyed his promising career. Friedmann survived the Lodz ghetto and Auschwitz to paint again. First shown in Český Dub, Czechoslovakia on January 27, 1946, then in Western Bohemia, Prague, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, this cycle was one of the first exhibitions of Holocaust art in the world. Friedmann's exhibitions at former Sudetenland towns in Western Bohemia were utilized as a ‘denazification’ tool by local education councils. Announcements and posters invited Slav nationals to a celebratory opening and viewing of the exhibition – with compulsory attendance for ethnic-Germans over the age of fifteen years. Every visitor paid admission. Germans failing to appear did not receive their ration cards. Town officials gladly offered the necessary exhibition halls, for it was in their own interest to show to the Germans still living there, scenes from the ghetto and the concentration camps, by the hand of an artist as witness. When asked, David Friedmann explained his paintings to Sudeten Germans unwilling to believe their countrymen had perpetrated such atrocities against the Jews. Friedman translated his haunting memories into more than 100 works and titled his series, ‘Because They Were Jews!’ Personalized descriptions supplement his artwork creating a singularly detailed pictorial and written record of the Holocaust. Friedman continued to fight antisemitism and racial prejudice by educating the public with his Holocaust art exhibitions.

KEYWORDS:

• Albums
• Czechoslovakia
• public memory of the Holocaust
• Holocaust art
• David Friedmann, 1893–1980
• exhibition studies

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 In 1960, Friedmann became a United States citizen and changed the spelling of his surname to Friedman.

2 David Friedmann, Tagebuch, 1945 [in German], Leo Baeck Institute, New York, pp. 125, 127. Date of first diary entry: January 28, 1945, Tost (Schlesien), Gleiwitz County, today Toszek, Poland. Last diary entry: September 23, 1945, Prague, the birthday of Mirjam Helene Friedmann.

3 Ibid., p. 125.

4 Friedmann's exhibition notices were gifted to the Sokolov Museum, Czech Republic. Collection of Historical Announcements (7 letters and 4 large posters), 1946–1947 (Central Registry of Museum-type Collections of the Czech Republic, Ministry of Culture: H4586/1-11).

5 Public notice of June 14, 1946, Sokolov Museum Collection (capitalizations in the original). The artwork description list mentioned in the notice is lost.

6 David Friedmann, Tagebuch für Mirjam Friedmann.

7 Public notice of June 11, 1946, Office of Czechoslovak Cultural Press, Editor Menzel. Sokolov Museum Collection.

8 State District Archives of Sokolov based in Jindřichovice, The District Council of Education in Sokolov (Cultural District) 1945-1951. Documents found by Ing. Michael Rund, Director, Sokolov Museum, Czech Republic.

9 Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Archive, Jerusalem.

10 Letter from Bezalel Academy to Ze'ev Shek, [in Hebrew] January 6, 1947. Yad Vashem Archive O.88 220. Today, the three drawings are in the Yad Vashem Art Collection. Alice Ehrmann and Leo Haas were among the many artists in the Bezalel Academy exhibition, ‘Behind Barbed Wire.’

11 National Revival … Czechoslovak People's Party. May 3, 1947.

12 According to a letter Friedmann wrote to Dr. H. Rosenkranz at Yad Vashem in 1973.

13 Friedmann called the Památník osvobození (Memorial of Liberation) the War Museum. The only possibility is the Military History Institute and its Army Museum: https://www.vhu.cz/muzea/zakladni-informace-o-am-zizkov/.

14 F. Goetz, “A New Immigrant Exhibits,” [in German] Yedioth Hayom, Tel Aviv, November 2, 1951.

15 Short Summary of Experiences of Artist-Painter David Friedmann, his wife Mathilde, née Fuchs, and baby Mirjam due to the National Socialist Persecution Actions [in German] Israel, 1954. This testimony is in Friedmann's file at the LABO: Entschädigung NS-Unrecht. https://www.berlin.de/labo/entschaedigung-ns-unrecht/.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Miriam Friedman Morris

Miriam Friedman Morris is the daughter of Auschwitz survivors David and Hildegard Friedman(n). David Friedmann, a renowned Berlin artist during the interwar years, recorded his experiences on paper and canvas for the world to see. After his death in 1980, Morris was driven to carry on his mission – to show his Holocaust art to the world – and succeeded with exhibitions in the United States, Germany, Czech Republic, and Israel. She is proud her father's works are represented in several institutions including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and on view in the permanent display at the Holocaust History Museum, Yad Vashem. Fascination with her father's Nazi-looted art inspired a second quest to find lost works and ensure his rightful place in history. The pursuit launched a worldwide revival of an artist obscured by the Nazi regime. It even led to a Holocaust documentary now in production with the working title ‘Dear Miriam - The Art and Survival of David Friedmann.’ Morris, who lives in New York, facilitates exhibitions, contributes to educational projects, lectures and writes. She dedicates her work to preserve and bring attention to his art legacy. Morris co-authored the book, David Friedmann: Painter: Holocaust Witness: Artwork from the Sokolov Region 1946–1947.