us-005578-irn517210-irn517216
type: RecordSet
archival history: The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Ilie Wacs.
biographical history: Ilie Wacs was born in Vienna, Austria, on December 11, 1927, to Moritz and Henia Fach. Moritz was originally from Romania and had been a prisoner of war in World War I who stayed in Austria when the war ended. However, he was not an Austrian citizen. He and Henia were married by a rabbi, but the marriage was not recognized by the Austrian government, and Ilie's birth name was officially Ilie Fach. His mother was from an orthodox Jewish family from Poland, and though his family was not especially religious, she kept a kosher home. A sister, Deborah, was born in 1935. Moritz was a men’s custom tailor with a very successful business. The Austrian population was primarily Catholic and anti-Semitism was common. Ilie was one of only 5 Jewish boys in his class at the public school he attended. During morning prayers, they had to wait outside the classroom and on the way home from school, Ilie and the other Jewish boys were often attacked. Ilie recalls often feeling like an outsider and asking his family why they couldn’t leave Austria. During the Anschluss (Annexation) of Austria by Nazi Germany on March 12-13 1938, Ilie remembers hearing the marching of hobnailed boots on cobblestone streets for hours. When school reopened, the teachers wore swastika armbands, and told the students that they must now behave as if they were guests in Austria. Ilie’s parents warned him to keep quiet at school, as he could get them all trouble. Moritz's business was aryanized and turned over to his Christian head tailor, Alois, a member of the Nazi party. Alois had prior knowledge of Kristallnacht that November and was able to warn the Wacs to leave their apartment that night. Kristallnacht was especially brutal in Austria: all the synagogues in Vienna were destroyed, Jewish homes and businesses were vandalized, and 1000s of Jews were deported to Dachau and Buchenwald. Soon after this, the family decided to emigrate. They wanted to come to the United States, but since Ilie was a Romanian cit…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Pencil drawing on thick, gray, watermarked paper, with a plastic coating over the image. It depicts a man wearing a 2-button suit and tie, walking with his left hand in his pants pocket and holding a newspaper in his right. The jacket has 2 pockets on the right hip and 1 on the left, a left breast pocket, 2 buttons on the cuffs, and large peak lapels. Artist’s signature is on the bottom right.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: Restrictions on use
has beginning date: 1943-01-01
has end date: 1945-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn517216
is or was included in: us-005578-irn517210
record resource extent: overall: Height: 14.250 inches (36.195 cm) | Width: 7.250 inches (18.415 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Drawing by 17 year old Ilie Wacs of a man modeling a suit, based on the tailoring patterns of his father, Moritz. Ilie’s family left Vienna for Shanghai soon after Kristallnacht in November, 1938. Nazi Germany had annexed Austria in March 1938 and the persecution of Jews was increasingly violent. In 1943, the Japanese, who controlled Shanghai, forced most Jewish refugees into ghettos. Conditions were very harsh, but Ilie’s family survived the war. With the assistance of the American Joint Distribution Committee, a Jewish aid organization, Ilie received a scholarship to study art in Paris.
title: Man in 2-breasted suit carrying newspaper, drawn to illustrate pattern