Drawing of the Virgin Mary by an American concentration camp inmate
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 5.000 inches (12.7 cm) | Width: 3.125 inches (7.938 cm)
Archival History
The drawing was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection
Funding Note: The acquisition of this artifact was made possible by The Philip and Janet Levin Foundation Family Fund.
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
Pencil drawing of the Virgin Mary created by Elsie Ragusin while she was a prisoner in Ravensbrück concentration camp in February 1945. Elsie was born in New York to a couple who had immigrated years earlier from Italy to America. In 1939, the Ragusin family went to Italy on an extended visit. Elsie and her father were arrested as political spies. Elsie was imprisoned in Auschwitz and Ravensbrück. She was liberated in 1945, and taken to Sweden to recover. She returned to the US in December 1945, and was reunited with her brothers.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Drawing in pencil on paper of the Virgin Mary with inscriptions on the front and back.
Ravensbruck February 20, 1945
Subjects
- Concentration camp inmates--Personal narratives, American.
- Concentration camp inmates as arists--Pictorial works.
- Women concentration camp inmates--Personal narratives, American.
Genre
- Art
- Object