Traveling Tears: Children's Artwork From Terezi Concentration Camp

Children's Artwork From Terezi Concentration Camp

8:45 PM | Posted by leonel

The 
          collection of children's drawings from the Terezín ghetto is quite unique 
          and is probably the most extensive collection of children's drawings 
          in the world. It comprises some 4,500 artworks by Jewish children who 
          were incarcerated during the second world war in the Terezín ghetto. 
          All the drawings in the collection were made in just less then two years 
          (1942-44) in drawing lessons organized by the former Bauhaus student 
          Friedl Dicker-Brandeis. 

For children at Terezín, drawing opened up the path to memories of the world from which they had been uprooted, as well as enabling them to see and depict the sad and horrifying realties of life. Above all, drawing transported them to a world of fantasy and pure imagination where good prevailed over evil, free will and well-being reigned supreme and there was paradise on earth. Their drawings expressed the constant hope for a safe return home, often featuring highways and cross-roads with sign-posts to Prague. Only a small proportion of the Terezín children, however, were to see their hopes fulfilled. The vast majority were transported eastward and later perished in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.