us-005578-irn515094-irn515133
identifier: irn515133
has or had holder: us-005578
is or was included in: us-005578-irn515094
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Black and white print of a street scene with buildings.
record resource extent: overall: Height: 10.375 inches (26.353 cm) | Width: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm)
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1960-12-31
scope and content: Postwar print of a street scene drawn by Bedrich Fritta while a prisoner in Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp. Fritta, a Czech Jewish cartoonist and graphic designer, was deported to the camp from Prague on November 24, 1941. He was assigned to head the Graphic Department. Fritta was part of a tight knit group of artists determined to secretly document the wretched conditions of daily life in the camp. In summer 1944, they were accused by the Gestapo of smuggling their 'gruesome', atrocity propaganda, that is realistic, work out of the camp. Fritta, his wife Hansi, and son Tomas, 3, were sent to prison. Fritta was tortured. His wife died of starvation or typhus. On October 26, Fritta, with artist Leo Haas, was deported to Auschwitz, where he died, age 37, on November 9, 1944. His son Tomas survived and was adopted by Leo Haas. Nearly 200 of Fritta's drawings were hidden and preserved by other inmates.
archival history: The print was given to Herman Goldschmidt in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2000 by Charlotte Schiff.
has or had some members with language: deu
type: RecordSet
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn515094-irn515133/alternateIDs/1
title: Print of a Bedrich Fritta street scene
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1950-01-01
has record set type: Item
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn515094-irn515133/acquisitions/1
biographical history: Fritz Taussig (later Bedrich Fritta) was born on September 19, 1906, in Visnová u Frydlantu, Bohemia, Austro-Hungary, (now Visnova, Czech Republic). He went to Paris to study art and upon his return, settled in Prague. He worked as a cartoonist and graphic designer, primarily creating advertising and publicity materials. His career advanced and Fritta became well known for his paintings and drawings, as well as his commercial work. In the 1930s, he created anti-Fascist political caricatures and was an illustrator for the magazine Simplicissimus. In September 1938, at a conference in Munich, Germany, the western powers agreed to Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. The Czech government was not a participant at the conference. On March 1939, Germany annexed the Bohemia, and Moravia provinces, where Prague was located. German allies took over other regions, and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. The provinces were governed by a Reich Protector. Jews were banned from Czech society. They were barred from most professions and could not run businesses or participate in organizations. In September 1939, Germany invaded neighboring Poland. In September 1941, Jews in Prague were required to wear Star of David badges to mark them as outcasts. That month, Reinhard Heydrich, the SS head of RSHA, Reich Main Security Office, was made Reich Protector. As part of his preparations to permanently solve the Jewish problem, he ordered the establishment of a prison complex, Theresienstadt, the German name for Terezin, about 40 miles north of Prague. Bedrich, his wife Johanna (Hansi), and their two year old son Tomas were deported to Theresienstadt with the second Aufbaukommando, [construction commando], Transport J. No. 482, on December 4, 1941. He was part of a group of engineers, artists, doctors, and others needed to set up and organize the ghetto. Fritta was assigned to the technical department of the Jewish Council that governed the camp for the Germans. They docu…