This article first appeared in the Times Of Israel and is republished here with permission.
Living in peace in Israel has been a challenge since the beginning of the Jewish State. Our enemies try to wipe us off this earth Because We Are Jews! Our fight for survival and justice continues as Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and other terrorist organizations seek our annihilation. Public opinion is shocking and Jews around the world are in danger. We must speak out and Stand for Israel!
David Friedman(n)’s art would not be silent. He captured the atrocities engraved in his memory. His mission was to show his art to the world to teach the lessons of the Holocaust, but the lessons have not been learned. Austrian born David Friedmann (1893-1980) a renowned Berlin artist during the interwar years, painted his experiences from the Lodz Ghetto and Auschwitz for the world to see. He made important contributions both in the realms of 20th century art and in the creation of materials that play a powerful humanitarian role in educating people about the reality of the Holocaust.
I rarely share my father’s most graphic scenes of the Holocaust on public posts. I am compelled to do so now. The brutal murderous rampage by Hamas and incinerating of Jewish people demands worldwide attention and outrage! Seventy-eight years after the liberation from Nazi concentration camps, we are faced again with horrific atrocities perpetrated against innocent people only Because They Were Jews! Countless other acts of barbarity have occurred, but these are the worst since the Holocaust.
The painting of the Auschwitz gas chamber was part of my father’s traveling exhibition in Czechoslovakia in towns near the German borders in 1946. The artwork was utilized as a ‘denazification’ tool by local education councils with compulsory attendance for ethnic-Germans over the age of fifteen years. To learn more about David Friedman’s artwork, read my photo essay published in the Journal of Holocaust Research. Contact me if interested in the full article and I will send the free link.
https://www.tandfonline.com/share/JSYHGQMWNHAQ4HAD8EUI?target=10.1080/25785648.2023.2197736
This is not just Israel’s war. This is about worldwide Jewish survival and affects everyone. We must never take our freedoms for granted. Pray for Israel.
