Sketches of internment camp inmates by a Polish Jewish inmate

The drawing was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003. 

Fiszel Zylberberg-Zber was a Jewish artist born in Plock, Poland, on June 23, 1909. By the 1930s, he was living in France and established as an artist, especially known for his woodcuts. In May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded France. An armistice was signed in June. Germany occupief the northern and western regions. In 1941, the German began arresting and interning foreign born Jews. Zber was detained around this time. He was sent to Beaune-la-Rolande internment camp. In 1942, the German began deporting the inmates to concentration camps in the east. Zber was deported on Convoy 6 to Auschwitz concentration camp in German occupied Poland where he was killed on October 26, 1942, at the age of 33. 

Sketches of internment camp inmates by a Polish Jewish inmate 

overall: Height: 8.250 inches (20.955 cm) | Width: 7.125 inches (18.098 cm) 

Pencil studies of fellow inmates at rest drawn by Fiszel Zber at Beaune-Le-Rolande internment camp in France where he was imprisoned from 1941-1942. Nazi Germany invaded France in May 1940. After the June armistice, the Germans occupied the north and western regions. In 1941, the Germans began rounding up Jewish residents who were not born in France. Zber, an artist specializing in woodcuts, was born in Poland. He was arrested as a foreign born Jew in 1941 and interned in Beaune-le-Rolande. While there, he drew scenes of the camp and the daily activities of the inmates. In 1942, the Germans began to deport foreign born Jews to concentration camps in the east. Zber was deported to Auschwitz where he was killed, age 33, on Oct. 26, 1942. 

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Several portrait studies in pencil on paper. In the top left is the head and shoulders of a sleeping man facing the viewer, with the covers tucked under his chin. To the right are 3 outlined studies of a man’s head wearing a beret: he looks away on top, in left profile below, and facing the viewer on right. At the bottom are 2 men in right profile sitting hunched over inside a rectangular enclosure, with their arms straddling their raised knees. The man on left looks straight ahead with a determined expression while the other man looks away from the viewer. It is signed and dated at the bottom.