Autobiographical watercolor of the exterior of a concentration camp corpse chamber
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 8.125 inches (20.638 cm) | Width: 11.625 inches (29.528 cm)
Creator(s)
- Zdenka Eismannova (Artist)
Biographical History
Zdenka Eismannova was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic), in 1897. She was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in September 1942. Nine months later, on September 6, 1943, she was transferred to Auschwitz, where she is presumed to have perished.
Archival History
The watercolor painting was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2011 by Ron Neulinger.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ron Neulinger
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Watercolor created by Zdenka Eismannova while she was interned in Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. The painting depicts the exterior of the leichenkammer or corpse chamber which is indicated in a poem on the front of the watercolor. Zdenka was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt in September 1942. From there she was deported on June 9, 1943, to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland where she is presumed to have perished.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Watercolor on paper; landscape view; image shows two men carrying a stretcher in left foreground with buildings in background; laundry lines in front of buildings; three people sit at a table in the far left, and a group of people are gathered around a tree in the right background; at right foreground, a square contains a poem titled "LEICHENKAMMER /Q 707 L421" and "Terezin 1943 / Z. EISMANNOVA" to right of square; paper has holes along left edge and is affixed to torn black construction paper. It was previouslty housed in a carved wooden album depicting a view of Prague on the front and designs on the reverse.
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Concentration camps--Czechoslovakia--Pictorial works.
- Women concentration camp inmates--Biography.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Czechoslovakia--Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in art.
- Concentration camp inmates as artists--Czechoslovakia.
Genre
- Art
- Object