To the Slaughter Arthur Szyk caricature of Himmler holding a list of planned executions
Extent and Medium
h: Height: 11.750 inches (29.845 cm) | Width: 15.875 inches (40.323 cm)
Creator(s)
- Arthur Szyk (Subject)
- Arthur Szyk (Artist)
Biographical History
Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) was born to Jewish parents, Solomon and Eugenia Szyk in Łódź, Poland, which at the time was part of the Russian Empire. He had his first public art exhibition at age 15, and then went to Paris, France, for formal art training at the Academie Julian. He visited Palestine in 1914 with a group of Polish-Jewish artists and studied Muslim art. Upon his return, he was conscripted into the Russian Army and served in World War I. He married Julia Liekerman in 1916, and they had a son, George, in 1917. In 1918, Poland regained independence, but continued to fight a series of regional wars to secure its boundaries. Between 1919 and 1920, during Poland's war against the Soviet Bolsheviks, Syzk served as a cavalry officer and artistic director of the Department of Propaganda for the Polish Army in Łódź. In 1921, he and his family moved to Paris where his daughter, Alexandra was born the following year. Szyk was well known for his illuminations and book illustrations, in a style reminiscent of Persian miniatures. He worked on several significant projects in France, including illustrating the Statute of Kalisz, the Haggadah, and a series of watercolors on the American Revolutionary War. The themes of his most admired works, democracy and Judaism, were already well established, earning him both fame and significant commissions. In 1934, Szyk traveled to the United States for exhibitions of his work and to receive the George Washington Bicentennial Medal, awarded by the US Congress. He resided in England from 1937-1940 to supervise the publication of the Haggadah. In 1939, following Germany's invasion of Poland, he focused on producing anti-Nazi editorial cartoons published in many Western newspapers and magazines. During the German occupation of Poland, his 70 year old mother, Eugenia, and her Polish companion were forced to live in the Łódź ghetto. In 1943, they were transported to Majdanek concentration camp and killed. In late 1940, Szyk immigrated to the United States with his family. He became a leading anti-Fascist political caricaturist as well as an advocate for Jewish rescue. In addition to his widely published satirical art, Szyk devoted a great deal of time and energy to the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe, and pushed for the establishment of an independent Jewish state in Palestine. Szyk received his US citizenship in 1948. In 1951, he was investigated by the United States House Un-American Activities Committee as a suspected Communist. His son, speaking on his behalf, declared his non-affiliation with any Communist organization. Later that year, on September 13, Szyk suffered a heart attack and died at age 57.
Archival History
The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1987 by F. Peter Rose.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of F. Peter Rose
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
Brightly colored portrait of Heinrich Himmler, head of the Nazi SS, drawn by Arthur Szyk when he was living as a refugee in London in 1939. Himmler holds a list naming the Poles and Jews to be executed. Germany invaded and occupied Poland in September 1939. On September 7, Himmler created the Reich Security Main Office which would coordinate the annihilation of European Jews. Szyk often made clear in his work how practical and deliberate the Nazis were in planning their killing operations. Szyk, a Jewish emigre artist, originally from Łódź, Poland, left London for the United States in 1940. After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, his work focused on anti-Nazi political cartoons. In the US, Szyk became a leading anti-Fascist editorial caricaturist, creating works that brought attention to the mass murder of Europe’s Jews by Nazi Germany.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Drawing in gouache, pen, and ink on paper depicting a vividly colored and detailed full length portrait of Heinrich Himmler, a middle aged, balding man with gold wire rim glasses, a short fat nose, and a small mustache. He wears a peaked visor cap, a black SS military uniform with insignia, a red swastika armband on the right arm, and knee high boots. He stands facing left and his large right hand is raised in a casual open palm salute. His left arm hangs straight down and holds a paper with columns titled: LIST OF POLES AND JEWS TO BE EXECUTED. Above the words HEIL HITLER is a swastika seal and the text: SIGNED VON SCUNDREL GAULEITER FOR POLAND. Signed and dated by the artist. There are 2 unfinished drawings of unidentified Nazi officers on the back, which could not be examined.
reverse, upper right corner, pencil : ['c' circled] 15 3/4 x 11 1
People
- Himmler, Heinrich, 1900-1945--Pictorial works.
- Szyk, Arthur, 1894-1951.
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in art.
- National socialism in art--Specimens.
- Jewish artists--United States.
- Anti-Nazi movement in art.
- Politics in art.
- World War, 1939-1945--Art and the war.
- World War, 1939-1945--Caricatures and cartoons.
Genre
- Art
- Object