us-005578-irn42320-irn42935
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1996-12-31
scope and content: Pen and wash drawing from a series of 19 captioned, narrative illustrations created by Peretz Chorshati (born Pavel Szenwald) between 1994 and 1997 about his wartime experiences. It depicts Pavel talking to a Polish Army recruiting officer in a cafe. Pavel arrived in Warsaw in August 1945 to look for relatives and had a drink with a Jewish security officer who asked him to join the Polish army. Pavel was an 18 year old student in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. He was imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto until his father got him forged papers and he escaped. He posed as a German national, and joined the German army. In March 1943, Pavel deserted the German army and joined the Bielski partisan group. After the war ended on May 7, 1945, Pavel returned to Warsaw and joined Beitar, a right wing Zionist group. In June 1946, he illegally emigrated to British ruled Palestine.
type: RecordSet
is or was included in: us-005578-irn42320
identifier: irn42935
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Ink wash drawing on white rectangular paper depicting, in the foreground, a uniformed soldier with his arm in a sling and a decorated officer at a round table with 3 plates of food and a large bottle, their glasses raised. Behind them sit 3 men in civilian clothes with a bottle and glasses and a suitcase on the floor. On the left is an arrow shaped sign reading WYJSCIE 3 and a doorway to a train platform and stopped train car. There is a paragraph length artist’s caption in Hebrew, dates, and the artist’s name inscribed on the front and a number covered with correction fluid. Some text has been covered in correction fluid and written over. front, lower left, handwritten, black ink : Hebrew text [At the end of the war I arrived in Warsaw to look for relatives…At the train station I talked to an officer from the security forces who begged me to join the Polish Army. After a few glasses of Vodka he ‘poured’ out and told me that he too was Jewish and very much wanted to leave everything and go to Palestine.] / August 45
has or had some members with language: heb
date: 1945 August
has or had holder: us-005578
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
archival history: The autobiographical drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010 by Peretz Chorshati.
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
title: Autobiographical ink drawing of 2 men in uniform sharing a meal at a train station cafe
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1996-01-01
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn42320-irn42935/alternateIDs/1
has record set type: Item
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn42320-irn42935/acquisitions/1
record resource extent: overall: Height: 8.125 inches (20.638 cm) | Width: 11.500 inches (29.21 cm)
biographical history: Pavel Szenwald was born on December 28, 1920, in Warsaw, Poland. He was a student at the Technical College in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. A few months later, he was imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto and in March 1941 was transported to the Nedev labor camp; he escaped and returned to the ghetto. In 1942, Pavel used forged Polish papers obtained by his father and escaped the ghetto. He posed as a German national, joined the German army, and served as a guard at a prisoner of war camp for Soviet prisoners. Believing his identity was about to be revealed, he fled his post in March 1943 and traveled over 600 miles to the Lida ghetto in Poland (Belarus). He escaped in April to the forest in Belarus and joined the Bielski partisans as a machine gunner and saboteur. In December, the group established a permanent base in the Naliboki forest which was under the administration of a Soviet partisan group led by General Chernyshev. The Bielski group established a relationship with the Soviet partisans who provided them with weapons. In July 1944, the camp was liberated by the Soviet Army; Pavel and his battalion fought alongside the Soviets. After the war in Europe ended on May 7, 1945, Pavel was drafted into the Soviet Army. Pavel returned to Warsaw in August 1945. He stayed at an army barracks and searched the ghetto ruins for surviving relatives but found none. Not wanting to return to his Russian army unit, Pavel decided to go to Palestine. In October 1945, he joined Beitar, a right wing Zionist group which was involved in illegal immigration and military activities. He gave up his papers, uniform, and weapons in exchange for ragged clothing and forged papers declaring him a Greek refugee. In November 1945, he crossed the border into Czechoslovakia with other Poles. They stayed in a safe house in Prague and were forbidden to leave, but Pavel heard that he could get cakes in town and left. He stopped to ask directions and was arrested. His iden…