Autobiographcal watercolor of a German officer and young woman conversing

http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn522490-irn523890 an entity of type: Record

rico:history

The painting was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2006 by Arie Singer.

Aryeh (Arie) Singer was born in Vilna, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania), on September 26, 1930, to Zvi and Chaya Sverdlov Singer. Zvi, born in 1903, earned his living in the lumber business. Chaya was born in 1908. There were multiple Zionist organizations in Vilna and the family belonged to Elzel. Aryeh attended Beit Sefer Ivrit school. Vilna was claimed by Poland following World War I (1914-1918.) After Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Vilna, in northeastern Poland, was occupied by Soviet forces per the German-Soviet pact which divided Poland between the two powers. Aryeh, 13, and his extended family fled to Glembokie (Glebokie), (later (Hlybokaye, Belarus), thinking it would be safer. But it also became Soviet territory and Jewish organizations and practices were abolished. On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked Soviet forces in the east and occupied the region. The German invasion was accompanied by German led killing squads, which, assisted by local Lithuanians auxiliaries, murdered thousands of Jews and Polish nationals. Aryeh and his mother Chaya were confined to the Jewish ghetto in Gle`mbokie. His father Zvi was one of the more than 5000 Jewish men shot during the massacres in the Ponary Forest in summer 1941. In the ghetto, Aryeh and his mother lived in a small apartment and had no food most of the time. There were frequent pogroms to kill more Jews. In spring 1943, Aryeh and his mother escaped the ghetto, with the help of a partisan named Fifi. They went into hiding in the Nievier Forest near Vilna and engaged in partisan activities. Aryeh’s paternal cousin, Edith Turner, and her family also escaped and lived with the partisans. During the liquidation of the Glembokie ghetto in July-August 1943, the residents rose up against the Nazi occupation forces. The ghetto was burned and the residents were slaughtered. The region where Aryeh and his mother were living in hiding with the partisans was liberated in July 1944 by Soviet forces. Aryeh and his mother relocated to displaced persons camps where they lived for several years. They emigrated to Israel in the late 1940’s. Chaya remarried and had a daughter, Aryeh’s half sister, Miri Gur, who was born in 1947. Aryeh joined the Israeli Defense Forces, fought in the Arab-Israeli Wars, and attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He married Dr. Rina Altberker in 1958 in Tel Aviv, Israel. During the Holocaust, Rina and her family were confined to the Warsaw ghetto for two years. Then Rina and her mother were smuggled out and provided with false identities as non-Jewish Polish women. Aryeh had a stroke in 1978. He had shown artistic talent when young and he taught himself to draw and paint with his left hand as part of his rehabilitation. His mother Chaya, 99, passed away in 2007.

rico:date

approximately 1985-2000

rico:identifier

irn523890

rico:title

Autobiographcal watercolor of a German officer and young woman conversing

rico:recordResourceExtent

overall: Height: 13.000 inches (33.02 cm) | Width: 18.375 inches (46.673 cm)

rico:scopeAndContent

Watercolor of a young woman, Miriam Singer, talking to a German officer as her cousin Arie walks nearby. It was created by Arie Singer, part of a series circa 1985-2000, based upon his memories as a 13 year old partisan fighter in the forests near Vilna, Poland, (Vilnius, Lithuania) and Belarus circa 1943-1944. After the Soviet occupation of Vilna in late 1939, Arie's family fled to Glembokie (Hlybokaye, Belarus). When Germany invaded in June 1941, German mobile killing units, with the help of the local populace, murdered thousands of Jews. Arie and his mother were forced into the Jewish ghetto. His father, Zvi, age 38, was killed in the Ponary massacres in 1941. Arie and his mother, Chaya, age 35, escaped during liquidation of the ghetto. They went into hiding in the Nievier Forest near Vilna, and joined the partisans. The area was liberated by the Red Army in July 1944. After years in displaced persons camps, Arie and Chaya emigrated to Israel in the late 1940s. Colonel Singer began creating this series of paintings about his Holocaust experiences in the mid 1980s as rehabilitation following a stroke in 1975.

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No restrictions on access

rico:conditionsOfUse

No restrictions on use

ehri:physicalCharacterisiticsAndTechnicalRequirements

Colorful watercolor on paper with an image of a blond haired young woman speaking with an officer in a green army uniform with Nazi insignia. Theye are standing in a clearing near yellow houses, green trees, and railroad tracks. A youth walks away to the right. back, pencil : 20 / 30 / 40 encircled RIVA

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