Terezin Tower in the Background Watercolor of the Theresienstadt tower
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 17.625 inches (44.768 cm) | Width: 13.750 inches (34.925 cm)
pictorial area: Height: 2.875 inches (7.303 cm) | Width: 4.125 inches (10.478 cm)
Archival History
The watercolor was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989 by Mark Talisman.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Mark Talisman
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 of the Terezin tower created at Theresienstadt (Terezin) ghetto-labor camp in German occupied Czechoslovakia. The camp opened in November 24, 1941 and was in operation about 3.5 years, until May 2, 1945. The German SS imprisoned certain categories of German, Austrian, and Czech Jews in the ghetto, including many prominent intellectual or cultural figures. There was a large Technical Department where many artists were assigned to work, creating technical drawings, maps, etc. for the camp administration. Many of them secretly created works documenting the actual overcrowded, disease ridden conditions of the camp. The works were buried or hidden behind walls and recovered postwar. Roughly 140,000 Jews were sent to Theresienstadt; nearly 90,000 were sent to camps in the east where most died, and about 33,000 perished in Theresienstadt.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Drawing in watercolor and ink and pencil on paper depicting a line of tall trees on a flat landscape with patches of foliage. In the center background is a small tower with 4 columns supporting a conical roof. On the back is a sketch in pencil of a line of trees. The drawing is in a windowpane mat with a piece of paper on the back.
mat, back, on paper, black ink : 18 Lávka ? Terezínská vĕž v pozadí / /kresba štĕtcem/ / 24 [Bridge, Terezin tower in the background, drawing with a paintbrush] mat, back, bottom right corner, colored pencil : 18.
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Concentration camps in art--Pictorial works.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in art.
- Concentration camp inmates as artists--Czech Republic--Terezin (Ustecky kraj)
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Czech Republic--Terezin (Ustecky kraj)
- World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Czech Republic--Pictorial works.
Genre
- Object
- Art