us-005578-irn50039-irn516142
type: RecordSet
archival history: The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988 by Hildegard Taussig Friedman, the wife of David Friedman.
biographical history: David Friedmann was born on December 20, 1893, in Mahrisch Ostrau (Ostrava, Czech Republic), part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the son of Heinrich, a tinsmith, born in 1864 in Kobiernice, and Sophie Rosenblum, born in 1856 in Czaniec. He lived in a modest home with three surviving siblings: Marie, born in 1888, Adolf, born in 1895, and Isidor, born in 1897. In 1911, Friedmann moved to Berlin where he studied etching with Hermann Struck and painting with Lovis Corinth. During World War One, Friedmann served from 1917-1918 in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He was decorated for his work as a combat artist, creating sketches on the frontlines. Following his return to Berlin, Friedmann exhibited at numerous galleries throughout Germany and Czechoslovakia. He achieved acclaim as a painter known for his portraits drawn from life. In 1924, his quick-sketching talent resulted in a secondary career as a freelance press artist for Berlin newspapers and other publications. When Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, Friedmann's prewar career ended. As a Jew, he was prohibited from showing his work and had to close his studio. He was able to make a living painting apartments and renovating buildings, which was permitted because of his Czechoslovak citizenship. In 1937, he married Mathilde Fuchs, born October 17, 1901, and they had a daughter, Mirjam Helene, born September 23, 1938. After the Kristallnacht pogrom on November 9-10 1938, Friedmann and his wife, with their infant child, fled from Berlin to Prague. On March 15, 1939, German forces marched into Prague and annexed the region to the Third Reich. Friedmann created portraits of the governing officials and leading members of the Jewish Community of Prague, such as Jakob Edelstein and František Zelenka. On October 16, 1941, Friedmann and his family were deported on the first transport from Prague to the Łódź Ghetto, renamed Litzmannstadt, in German occupied Poland. The Germans controlled the large Ghetto population …
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Framed charcoal and tempera drawing on paper depicting a group of four men: on the left stands a man in a striped jacket and cap, seen in right profile from the waist up, watching two uniformed prisoners with caps hunched over and carrying a bald, barefoot dead man by the shoulders and legs. White painted lines overlay the dark stripes in their brownish uniforms. Just behind the man on the right stands a smiling, dark uniformed, guard with a mustache smoking a cigarette. In the left background, two bent, indistinct figures put a body in a hole in the yard, near the corner of a horizontally lined wooden structure. The light dirt ground behind the figures has a swirl of visible brushstrokes which highlight the muted brown and gray shades of the prisoners. The artist’s signature and date are in the lower right corner. The reverse has two offwhite labels with English text and numbers. The black and gold painted wooden frame has a glass pane.
conditions of use: Copyright Holder: Ms. Miriam F. Morris
date: 1944 August-1945 January
has beginning date: 1945-01-01
has end date: 1945-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn516142
is or was included in: us-005578-irn50039
record resource extent: overall: Height: 23.125 inches (58.738 cm) | Width: 29.000 inches (73.66 cm) | Depth: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) pictorial area: Height: 16.875 inches (42.863 cm) | Width: 23.000 inches (58.42 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Mixed media drawing created by David Friedmann (from 1960, Friedman) in 1945, depicting a scene in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where he was sent in late-August 1944. Artist's caption:"Jewish prisoners on their way to bury a shot down comrade. A smiling and smoking Nazi is watching as two other prisoners are digging a grave. Usually, the prisoners dug their own graves before they were shot. This was an added enjoyment for the Nazis" David Friedmann was a successful painter and graphic artist who lived in Berlin from 1911-1938. He was renowned for his portraits drawn from life and became a leading press artist of the 1920’s. In 1933, his prewar career abruptly ended with the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship. In December 1938, he escaped to Prague with his wife, Mathilde, and infant daughter, Mirjam Helene. In October 1941, they were deported to the Jewish Ghetto in Łódź, Poland. In late August 1944, the family was separated and sent to Auschwitz death camp, where his wife and child were murdered. He was sent to the subcamp Gleiwitz I, because musicians were sought for a camp orchestra, but Friedmann’s life was saved because of his painting and quick-sketching portrait abilities. The camp was evacuated due to approaching Soviet forces. The inmates were forced on a death march to Blechhammer, where Friedmann was liberated by the Red Army in January 1945. He journeyed to Poland and stayed in Krakow until the war ended in early May 1945. He then returned to Prague and painted the scenes that haunted his memory to show the world and give voice to those who could not be heard. In January 1946, he had his first exhibition of his Holocaust artwork. Friedmann and his second wife, Hildegard, a fellow concentration camp survivor, fled the Stalinist Communists for Israel in 1949. They had a daughter also named Miriam, and the family moved to the United States in 1954.
title: Autobiographical drawing by David Friedmann of Jewish prisoners on their way to bury a shot comrade