us-005578-irn41976-irn1186
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Drawing in pencil on orange paper of a tragic, mournful man with a scarf wrapped around his head, standing in the foreground. He has large, dark baggy eyes, a large nose and mouth, and a wrinkled forehead and cheeks. His hands are tucked for warmth into the opposite sleeves of his worn jacket. Behind his shoulder to the right stands a similar, distorted figure. In the background is an outline of tall, partially destroyed buildings. It is signed and dated. The paper has uneven edges and is adhered to mat board. back, center, handwritten, black ink : 2P back, center, black colored pencil : 32
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: Restrictions on use. Copyright status unknown.
has beginning date: 1945-01-01
has end date: 1945-12-31
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
history: The drawing was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989.
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…
identifier: irn1186
is or was included in: us-005578-irn41976
record resource extent: overall: Height: 7.625 inches (19.368 cm) | Width: 5.375 inches (13.653 cm) pictorial area: Height: 9.500 inches (24.13 cm) | Width: 6.375 inches (16.192 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Drawing of Jewish men whose beards have been shaved off created by Halina Olszewski (later Olomucki) in 1945, just after the war. It depicts a scene she witnessed while interned in Warsaw Ghetto from October 1940-May 1943. The full beards worn by traditional Orthodox Jewish males as a sign of piety were a convenient target for occupying German troops who would shave off the beards in public, using abusive and humiliating methods. Nazi Germany occupied Poland in September 1939, and, in fall 1940, Halina, her mother Margarit-Hadassa, and siblings were relocated to the ghetto. Halina did forced labor, but she felt her real job was to record the misery and suffering of ghetto residents. Halina smuggled many 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 Beard was Shaved, Germany, 1945 Halina Olomucki sketch of Jewish men whose beards were publicly shaved