us-005578-irn60875-irn61230
type: RecordSet
archival history: The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995 by Esther Lurie.
biographical 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 …
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Double sided sketch in pencil on wove paper. On one side is a wooden bridge that arches high over shaded beams. In the foreground is a short fence with 3 vertical posts strung with barbed wire. On the back is a gesture drawing of 2 overlapping male figures sitting on a backless bench; the front figure wears a cap an overcoat and is reading something in his lap; the other figure is seen from behind and leans left, talking to a man on his right. A 6 pointed Star of David badge is visible on heir backs. To the right is an unfinished face in left profile. It is signed and dated by the artist.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has beginning date: 1941-01-01
has beginning date: 1957-01-01
has end date: 1957-12-31
has end date: 1941-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: heb
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn61230
is or was included in: us-005578-irn60875
record resource extent: overall: Height: 13.750 inches (34.925 cm) | Width: 9.875 inches (25.083 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Two sided pencil sketches of Kovno Ghetto scenes created by Esther Lurie. One sketch depicts a bridge over barbed wire; the other, seated figures with Stars of David. The scenes were witnessed in the Ghetto in 1941, but drawn in 1957. Lurie's drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, while a prisoner in Kovno ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, exhibited and published in 1945, presented eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno (Kaunus), 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 an exhibition of her drawings was held and an exhibit catalog published.
title: Double sided sketch of Kovno Ghetto life by Esther Lurie