us-005578-irn41976-irn1182
type: RecordSet
archival history: The drawing was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989.
biographical history: Halina Olszewski (later Olomucki/Olomucka) was born on November 24, 1919, in Warsaw, Poland, to Andrzej and Margarit-Hadassa Olszewski. She had an older brother, Moniek, born in 1909, and two sisters. Her parents ran a newspaper distribution service. Her father died in 1924. The family was Jewish but not observant. Halina attended a Yiddish speaking elementary school, then a public gymnasium. Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on September 1, 1939. German troops entered Warsaw on September 29. Halina and her family were relocated to the ghetto. Jews had to wear armbands with Judenstern, valuables were confiscated, and forced labor was required. Halina had drawn constantly from an early age and she continued to do this in the ghetto. She felt an urgent need to record daily life, even though, as she recalled:"I was in the same condition as every other person all around me. I saw them close to death but I never thought of myself close to death.... My job was simply to write down, to draw what was happening" Halina depicted the misery and suffering of life in the ghetto, where nearly 100,000 people died within the first fifteen months from disease and starvation. She also recorded events such as selections, deportations from the Umschlagplatz, or holding place, near the railroad station, and the destruction of Dr. Janos Korczak’s orphanage. While doing forced labor outside the ghetto, Halina smuggled drawings out to a Polish friend in the Aryan section, dropping small packages of drawings as her brigade walked by. On some occasion, Halina also smuggled in food for her family In May 1943, after three days of waiting in the Umschlagplatz without food or water, Halina and her mother were put into a crowded train car and taken to Majdanek concentration camp. Her mother was sent to be killed upon arrival. Halina survived four selections done to separate those to be gassed from those to be used as laborers. One day, a guard came into the barracks and asked if there was anyone…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Sketch in pencil with colored pencil on torn, graph newsprint paper glued to matboard of a man carrying a child at the front of a closel huddled group of more than 20 children walking down a street. Five uniformed, armed guards escort them: 2 in front, one close on each side, and one on the far right. The figures are outlined with black, but not detailed, and the faces are indistinct. A row of faint, barely outlined buildings can be glimpsed behind the crowd. It is initialed and dated.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: Restrictions on use. Copyright status unknown.
date: 1942 August 05, 1943 January-1943 May
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had subject: 1106
has or had subject: 904
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn1182
is or was included in: us-005578-irn41976
record resource extent: overall: Height: 14.000 inches (35.56 cm) | Width: 18.000 inches (45.72 cm) pictorial area: Height: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm) | Width: 6.250 inches (15.875 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Drawing depicting Janusz Korczak and children being taken from Warsaw Ghetto created by Halina Olszewski, 24, (later Olomucki) in the ghetto in 1943. Germany occupied Poland in September 1939, and established the ghetto in October 1940. Dr. Korczak ran a Jewish orphanage in the ghetto. In July 1942, the Germans began mass deportations to Treblinka killing center. Korczak was offered a chance to escape, but refused to abandon the children. On August 6, Korczak led his staff and about 200 children in an orderly walk to the deportation train. Halina, her mother Margarit-Hadassa, and siblings were relocated to the ghetto in 1940. Halina did forced labor, but she felt her real job was to record the misery and suffering of ghetto residents. Halina smuggled drawings to a non-Jewish friend outside the ghetto. In May 1943, she and her mother were deported to Majdanek where her mother was killed on arrival. In July, Halina was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she continued to create art in secret. Other prisoners asked her to draw them or their loved ones to preserve their memory and show the world what happened. She hid artwork in the camp, much of it recovered postwar. On January 18, 1945, Halina was sent by death march to Ravensbrück and Neustadt-Glewe, where she was liberated on May 2, 1945. She returned to Warsaw but found no surviving family members.
title: The Last Road for Korczak and the Children During Deportation, Warsaw Ghetto, 1943 Halina Olomucki drawing of man and children taken by armed guards