Etching by Walter Spitzer of naked skeletal concentration camp inmates and guards

Identifier
irn37590
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2008.340.2
Dates
1 Jan 1955 - 31 Dec 1955
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

overall: Height: 12.750 inches (32.385 cm) | Width: 19.375 inches (49.213 cm)

pictorial area: Height: 6.125 inches (15.558 cm) | Width: 11.750 inches (29.845 cm)

Creator(s)

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 studies of several skeletal, naked male inmates, including a child, in an open space, with two uniformed camp guards.

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 presents several images of naked, skeletal, male figures, but not a unified composition, drawn in a loose, gestural style. In the right foreground is an oversized, expressionless, naked figure, seated on the ground on buttocks that are all bone, no flesh, with his knees drawn up. In the center of the paper is an image of a young, naked boy with dark eyes, seated on the ground, legs extended and splayed, arms resting on the ground behind him; a bucket lies nearby. In the background behind him is a clothed, uniformed male figure with his back to the viewer observing 2 figures in prison garb carrying a stretcher with a body sprawled upon it. To the left is another uniformed figure with his hands folded across his chest, also watching them. In front and slightly to the left of this guard, a flat, naked figure, possibly a corpse, is lying on the ground, In the left foreground stands a skeleton of a man with his arms hanging at this side.

front, under right corner of image, pencil : 6/30 front, under center of image, pencil : EVERY DAY SCENE

People

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.