us-005578-irn60875-irn61242
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Two sketches in ink on paper of 2 small, gesture portrait studies of Adolf Eichmann and a courtroom officer in right profile, from the shoulders up. In both sketches, Eichmann wears dark eyeglasses and headphones with a man in a peaked visor uniform hat sitting nearby. He looks straight ahead, although in the slightly smaller bottom image, he also looks slightly downward. The paper is folded in half at the center.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1961 April 11-1961 December 15, 1962 March 29-1961 December 15
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
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: irn61242
is or was included in: us-005578-irn60875
record resource extent: overall: Height: 13.750 inches (34.925 cm) | Width: 10.000 inches (25.4 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Two similar, small sketches of Adolf Eichmann listening on headphones drawn by Esther Lurie on March 29, 1962, of the Adolf Eichmann trial. Eichmann was the SS official who organized the delivery of Jews all over Europe to killing centers and concentration camps. He escaped in 1946 and was captured by Israeli agents in Argentina in 1960. The Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, April 11, 1961- December 15, 1961, was the first detailed, public exploration of the Holocaust. He was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Many survivors gave testimony and Esther's drawings were introduced as evidence. Eichmann was sentenced on December 15, 1961, to death by hanging. He lost his appeal on May 29 and was hanged midnight, May 31. 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 of Leibisch was arranged by a Jewish soldier, Menahem Shemi, and an exhibit catalog was published.
title: Sketches of Eichmann with headphones at trial drawn by Esther Lurie