Etching by Walter Spitzer of concentration camp inmates hauling a cart of corpses, with one not yet dead
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 12.875 inches (32.703 cm) | Width: 19.125 inches (48.578 cm)
pictorial area: Height: 7.000 inches (17.78 cm) | Width: 11.750 inches (29.845 cm)
Creator(s)
- Walter Spitzer (Artist)
- Walter Spitzer (Subject)
Biographical History
Walter Spitzer was born on June 14, 1927, in the Czech-Polish border town of Cieszyn (Województwo Śląskie), Poland, to Grete Weiss and Samuel Spitzer. He had a brother, Harry. It was a pleasant, upper middle class existence and Walter’s artistic talent was noticed early. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. In 1940, his brother was taken away by German soldiers. Shortly after, his father died from complications after surgery. Soon after, all the Jews of Cieszyn were banished from their homes. Walter, age 13, and his mother sought refuge in Strzemieszyce, near Sosnowiec and Bedzin in southwest Poland. Conditions were believed to be better there; the ghetto was open and the Jewish Council was extremely organized. Walter was able to support them by working as a photographer and as a welder at the Eisenwerke (Steel Factory). But in June 1943, the Jews were expelled from Strzemieszyce and transported to Blechhammer labor camp. Walter was separated from his mother and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he was tattooed with the number, 178489. In January 1945, Walter was forced on a death march to Gross-Rosen, from where he was taken to Buchenwald by train and assigned the number, 124465. In his autobiography, Spitzer relates a promise that he made to the German political prisoner in charge of his barracks. This man told Spitzer that he would keep him off the next transport lists, if he promised to tell with his pencils all that he saw in the camps. While at Buchenwald, Walter made portraits and drawings which he bartered for bread. He also did clandestine drawings of forced labor. Most of his camp drawings were lost when the camp was liquidated. The inmates were forced on a death march to Sylésie in February, then to Gera, a Buchenwald subcamp. While on the forced march to Gera, in April 1945, Spitzer was liberated by the United States Army. In May, he was transported to Austria, where he was taken in by the 3256 Signal Service Company of the United States Armed Forces and worked as an interpreter. On June 20, 1945, Spitzer departed for Paris. He received formal training at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and became a renowned painter, lithographer, and illustrator in Paris. Among his most celebrated works are a cycle of lithographs to accompany the fiction of Jean Paul Sartre, including his trilogy about the war years, as well as artwork for several novels by Andre Malraux. Through his art, Spitzer has been a compelling and eloquent witness to the Shoah and other horrors of the 20th century. He published his autobiography, Sauvé par le dessin: Buchenwald, [Saved by Drawing, Buchenwald], forward by Elie Wiesel, in 2004.
Archival History
The etching was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2008 by Walter Spitzer.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Walter Spitzer
Scope and Content
Intaglio etched print created by Walter Spitzer based upon his experiences as an inmate in Blechhammer and Buchenwald concentration camps from 1943-1945. Following the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, Walter fled with his family from Cieszyn (Województwo Śląskie). In 1940, his brother, Harry, was taken away by German soldiers and his father, Samuel, died after surgery. In June 1943, he and his mother, Gretta, were deported to Blechhammer labor camp where they were separated. Walter was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, then Buchenwald, where the 17 year-old Spitzer began documenting camp life. He promised a fellow inmate to tell with his pencils all that he saw in the camps. Walter's family did not survive the war and he settled in France. He became a professional artist, creating an eloquent artistic record of the Shoah. Spitzer did the original drawings for this print set in 1945, following his liberation by US troops while on a death march. This print is part of a set of nine, number 6 of 30, created postwar. Many of the drawings feature inmates referred to as Muselmann by the other prisoners, who avoided them. These are prisoners who are near death due to exhaustion, illness, starvation, or hopelessness. This print depicts a group of prisoners hauling a wagon filled with corpses, with one skeletal figure standing up in the cart reaching out in a pleadnig manner to the other inmates.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Restrictions on use. Donor retains copyright for this collection.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Etched print in black ink on rectangular, white paper. It depicts a group of 4 skeletal men clothed in striped prison uniforms pushing a large wooden cart of dead, naked bodies. One naked, skeletal person stands amidst the corpses in the center of the cart, bent over, with an outstretched arm reaching in a beseeching manner toward the men pushing the cart. There is a partial view of a guard tower and trees on the left. The cart and the ground are etched in strong, dense, lines; the sky is mostly dark, except for the area around the figures on the left and the cart.
front, bottom right corner, pencil : 6/30 front, center bottom, pencil : TO THE KREMATORIUM EVEN HALF ALIVE
People
- Spitzer, W. (Walter)
Subjects
- Concentration camp inmates--Poland.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland.
- Concentration camps in art.
- Concentration camp inmates as artists.
- Concentration camp inmates--Germany--Buchenwald.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in art.
Genre
- Art
- Object