Aquarelle of a gated internment camp path by a Russian Jewish inmate
Extent and Medium
a: Height: 10.125 inches (25.718 cm) | Width: 13.125 inches (33.338 cm)
b: Height: 11.250 inches (28.575 cm) | Width: 15.000 inches (38.1 cm) | Depth: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm)
Creator(s)
- Jacques Gotko (Artist)
- Jacques Gotko (Subject)
Biographical History
Yankeli Gotkovski (1899-1944, later Jacques Gotko) was born in Odessa, in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). Fleeing anti-Semitic pogroms, his family immigrated to Paris, France, in 1905. In Paris, Gotko’s father worked as a steelworker in a Fiat plant until 1913, when he died unexpectedly. Gotko studied painting, architecture, and stage design for theatre and film at the École des Beaux-Arts. After graduation he worked as an art director and set designer, and exhibited paintings in the Salon d'Automne, the Salon des Indépendants and the Gallerie Jeanne Castelle. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and two days later, France and Britain declared war on Germany. In May 1940, Germany conquered France and occupied the northern half of the country. In 1941, the Germans began rounding up foreign born Jewish residents. In July, all of Gotko’s work in his studio was destroyed, and he was arrested and sent to Compiègne internment camp. In the camp Gotko continued to paint watercolors, draw pencil sketches, and create linocuts of life in the camp and sent his earnings from portrait commissions to his wife who was not Jewish. In 1942, the Germans began to systematically deport foreign born Jews to concentration camps in the east. In September, Gotko was transferred to Drancy internment and transit camp. In Drancy he reunited with his mother and sister who had been arrested near his home in Bordeaux. In November, Gotko’s mother and sister were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. On July 18, 1943, Gotko was deported to Auschwitz on transport 57. Upon arrival he was selected for forced labor and tattooed with prisoner number 130612. Gotko died of typhus on January 2, 1944, in Auschwitz.
Archival History
The watercolor painting was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection
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
Aquarelle created by Jacques Gotko in 1942 of a gate and barracks at Compiegne internment camp in France where he was a prisoner from July 1941- July 1943. Germany invaded France in May 1940. After the June armistice, the Germans occupied the north and western regions. In 1941, the Germans began rounding up Jewish residents who were not born in France. Gotko, a painter and native of Russia, was arrested in Paris as a foreign born Jew in July 1941 and interned in Compiegne. He drew scenes of the camp and the daily activities of the inmates. In 1942, the Germans began to systematically deport foreign born Jews to concentration camps in the east. Gotko was transferred to Drancy transit camp in Paris. On July 31, 1943, he was sent to Auschwitz where he died of typhus shortly after his arrival.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
a. Aquarelle with ink on paper with an outdoor scene of a camp entrance with an open A-framed wooden gate covered with brown and black barbed wire. To the left is a dirt path into the camp, with a smaller gray version of the gate to the left. On the grass in the right foreground are loose barbed wire coils. In the left background, a high barbed wire fence with tall poles extends into the distance. There is a grass strip outside the fence on the left, and a row of wooden peaked roof barracks inside on the right. The sky is filled with white swirling clouds washed with streaks of blue and pink/brown. It is signed and dated in the lower right corner. b. Rectangular, gilt, beveled wooden frame with glass pane.
People
- Gotko, Jacques, 1899-1943.
Corporate Bodies
- Compiègne (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Concentration camps in art--France--Compiègne--Pictorial works.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--France--Personal narratives.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in art--France.
- Jewish artists--France--Biography.
- Deportees--France--Biography.
- Concentration camp inmates as artists--France--Compiegne--Biography.
- World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, German.
Genre
- Art
- Object