us-005578-irn60875-irn61225
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Drawing in pencil on paper of a full length portrait of a young woman with short, cropped hair, wearing a long sleeved, loose fitting tunic tucked into loose fitting pants, with bare feet. She has dark eyes and eyebrows and a sad thoughtful expression. Her head is tilted right and her arms hang straight at her sides. There is a date and Hebrew inscription at the bottom.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has beginning date: 1944-01-01
has beginning date: 1957-01-01
has end date: 1957-12-31
has end date: 1944-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: heb
has record set type: Item
history: Esther Lurie (1913-1998) was born in Liepaja (formerly Libau), Latvia, to a religious, intellectual Jewish family. Her parents were Josef and Bluma and she had five older sisters and an older brother. The family was forced to move to Riga during World War I (1914-1918), when Liepāja, a Baltic seaport which was then part of the Russian Empire, was taken over as a military port. Esther’s artistic gifts were nurtured from an early age. From 1931 -1934, she studied theatrical set design at the Instituts des Arts Decoratifs in Brussels, Belgium; in early 1934, she went to Antwerp, Belgium, to study drawing and painting at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts. Most of her family emigrated to Palestine in 1934 and Esther joined them there. She worked with the Hebrew Theater, producing set decorations, and by 1938, had her first one women art show, winning the Dizengoff Prize. In 1939, Esther went on a study-exhibition tour throughout Europe. She was visiting her sister, Muta, in Kovno (Kaunus), Lithuania, when World War II broke out and she was trapped in the area. In 1940, the Soviet Army invaded and occupied Lithuania and the persecution of Jews became widespread. In June-July 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and soon occupied Lithuania. Almost immediately, German Einsatzgruppe (mobile killing units) and their Lithuanian auxiliaries began systematic massacres of Jews throughout the country. By November 1941, the surviving Jews of Kovno were imprisoned in a sealed ghetto surrounded by barbed wire. It was extreme overcrowded and there weresevere food shortages and frequent outbreaks of disease. Esther immediately began to record her experiences with sketches and written testimony on whatever little scraps of paper she could find. This was not easy and it could be dangerous – they were always under observation from guards. But other ghetto residents who saw her drawings thought it was important that someone should show ‘how it was’ and make a permanent record of their …
history: The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995 by Esther Lurie.
identifier: irn61225
is or was included in: us-005578-irn60875
record resource extent: overall: Height: 13.625 inches (34.608 cm) | Width: 9.875 inches (25.083 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Full length self-portrait in a prison uniform drawn by Esther Lurie ca. 1957, based upon one she had drawn in 1944 while a prisoner in Stutthof concentration camp. Esther recreated the drawing in 1957 for possible inclusion in the album A Living Testimony. Esther, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno (Kaunas, Lithuania] in summer 1941, when it was occupied by Nazi Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where her drawings of Leibisch were exhibited.
title: Esther Lurie full length self-portrait while a concentration camp inmate