Overview
- Brief Narrative
- Sketch of an entrance to the Kovno Ghetto drawn by Esther Lurie in 1957, reconstructing a drawing she did in 1943, while she was imprisoned in the ghetto in German occupied Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. It depicts the main gate to the Ghetto with the Slobodka Bridge in the distance. Lurie's drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, while a prisoner in Kovno ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, exhibited and published in 1945, presented eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, a professional artist, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno in summer 1941 when it was occupied by Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where an exhibition of her drawings of Leibisch was held.
- Artwork Title
- First gate to ghetto and a view of Slobodka Bridge, Kovno, 1943
- Series Title
- A Living Witness
- Date
-
creation:
approximately 1957
depiction: 1943
- Geography
-
creation:
Tel Aviv (Israel)
depiction: Kovno ghetto (historic); Kaunas (Lithuania)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Esther Lurie. As art, created originally by me, from life, in the form of pen and ink drawings and watercolours, in the Kovno Ghetto (suburb Wiliampole, Lithuania, then under German occupation) in the years 1941, 1942, 1943.
- Contributor
-
Artist:
Esther Lurie
Subject: Esther Lurie
- Biography
-
Esther Lurie (1913-1998) was born in Liepaja (formerly Libau), Latvia, to a religious, intellectual Jewish family. Her parents were Josef and Bluma and she had five older sisters and an older brother. The family was forced to move to Riga during World War I (1914-1918), when Liepāja, a Baltic seaport which was then part of the Russian Empire, was taken over as a military port. Esther’s artistic gifts were nurtured from an early age. From 1931 -1934, she studied theatrical set design at the Instituts des Arts Decoratifs in Brussels, Belgium; in early 1934, she went to Antwerp, Belgium, to study drawing and painting at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts. Most of her family emigrated to Palestine in 1934 and Esther joined them there. She worked with the Hebrew Theater, producing set decorations, and by 1938, had her first one women art show, winning the Dizengoff Prize.
In 1939, Esther went on a study-exhibition tour throughout Europe. She was visiting her sister, Muta, in Kovno (Kaunus), Lithuania, when World War II broke out and she was trapped in the area. In 1940, the Soviet Army invaded and occupied Lithuania and the persecution of Jews became widespread. In June-July 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and soon occupied Lithuania. Almost immediately, German Einsatzgruppe (mobile killing units) and their Lithuanian auxiliaries began systematic massacres of Jews throughout the country. By November 1941, the surviving Jews of Kovno were imprisoned in a sealed ghetto surrounded by barbed wire. It was extreme overcrowded and there weresevere food shortages and frequent outbreaks of disease.
Esther immediately began to record her experiences with sketches and written testimony on whatever little scraps of paper she could find. This was not easy and it could be dangerous – they were always under observation from guards. But other ghetto residents who saw her drawings thought it was important that someone should show ‘how it was’ and make a permanent record of their sufferings. Strangers would let her sketch the scenes from the windows of their rooms. When she was sent to do forced labor, the Judenrat [Jewish Council of Elders] made arrangements for her to be relieved, so that she could continue to record the life of the ghetto. As Esther noted later in her ife: “Pictures are both eye-witness documents and a memorial for the lost souls.”
As deportations from the ghettos to the concentration camps increased, Esther became concerned about the survival of her work. She asked the craftsmen in the pottery workshop to make her large jars in which she would hide her work. In the autumn of 1943, the ghetto was converted to the Kauen concentration camp. In July 1944, they began to liquidate the ghetto, deporting the remaining inhabitants and burning the buildings. At this time, Esther was separated from her sister, Muta Zarchin (Zarhin). Esther was deported to Stutthof concentration camp; Muta, age 35, her young son, and her family were sent to Auschwitz, where they were killed on arrival. In August 1944, Esther was sent to the Leibisch forced labor camp, where she continued to document the people and scenes of her daily life. She drew on scraps of paper backing from cotton rolls from the camp infirmary and hid the sketches in her clothing. Occasionally, she was able to barter a drawing for a piece of bread.
On January 21, 1945, the camp was liberated by the Soviet Army. She worked briefly as an interpreter for the Russians in Italy. Because she was a citizen of Palestine, a British protectorate, she was placed with a group of liberated British prisoners of war. She also met some Jewish soldiers from Palestine, including the artist, Menachem Shemi. They organized an exhibit of her sketches and published them as a booklet, Jewesses in Slavery: 15 drawing from a Labour Camp. In July, she was repatriated to Palestine and reunited with her family. She and her sisters participated in the Haganah, a defense organization active in the struggle for the establishment of the independent state of Israel. She married Joseph Shapiro and they had two children. She resumed her career as a professional artist, and, in 1946, was awarded her 2nd Dizengoff Prize. Some of her drawings of the Kovno ghetto were recovered by a friend, Avraham Golub Tory, who had been secretary to the Council of Elders, kept safe in the pottery jars in the secret, buried ghetto archives. Her artwork would be presented as evidence of the Holocaust during the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem in 1961. Lurie lived in Tel Aviv, Israel, until her death.
Physical Details
- Classification
-
Art
- Category
-
Drawings
- Object Type
-
Pencil drawing--Jewish ghettos (lcsh)
- Physical Description
- Sketch in pencil on paper depicting a group of people wearing Star of David badges walking through a wood and barbed wire into a street lined with buildings. On the left are plank fence enclosures. In the middle ground is a large 2-story buildings with partial adjacent buildings. In the left background is a tied-arch bridge and a distant townscape. It is signed and dated by the artist in English and Hebrew.
- Dimensions
- overall: Height: 10.875 inches (27.623 cm) | Width: 16.125 inches (40.958 cm)
- Materials
- overall : paper, graphite
- Inscription
- front, bottom left, pencil : Esther Lurie Kovno Ghetto 1943 / from the series "A Living Witness"
front, bottom right, pencil : Hebrew text [transliteration: Ester Lurie Geto Kovno 1943 Ha-sha'ar ha - rishon la-geto u-mar'eh ha-gesher le - Slobodka [Esther Lurie Ghetto Kovno 1943 The first gate to the ghetto and a view of the Slobodka Bridge]
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Concentration camp inmates--Poland--Biography. Holocaust survivors--Israel--Biography. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Lithuania--Kaunas--Personal narratives. Jewish ghettos--Lithuania--Kaunas--Pictorial works. Jewish women artists--Biography. Jews--Lithuania--Kaunas--Pictorial works. Women concentration camp inmates--Poland--Biography.
- Personal Name
- Lurie, Esther.
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1996 by Esther Lurie.
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
- Record last modified:
- 2024-10-03 13:06:09
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn11591
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Also in Esther Lurie collection
The collection consists of pen and ink drawings, etchings, and watercolors created by Esther Lurie during the Holocaust about her experiences in the Kovno Ghetto in German occupied Lithuania in the years 1941, 1942, 1943.
Date: 1941-1943
Etching by Esther Lurie of the expulsion to the camps from the ghetto
Object
Etching of people awaiting deportation from Kovno Ghetto created in 1957 from a 1957 drawing by Esther Lurie reconstructing a work she drew in 1943 while imprisoned in the ghetto in German occupied Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. It depicts a large crowd with Star of David badges holding suitcases and gathering in a street. Lurie's drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, while a prisoner in Kovno ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, exhibited and published in 1945, presented eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, a professional artist, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno in summer 1941 when it was occupied by Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where an exhibition of her drawings of Leibisch was held.
Etching by Esther Lurie of a group lined up for expulsion to the camps
Object
Etching created in 1957 from a drawing done by Esther Lurie in 1943 while she was imprisoned in the ghetto in German occupied Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. It depicts a closely packed group of people with large sacks waiting in line. Lurie's drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, while a prisoner in Kovno ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, exhibited and published in 1945, presented eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, a professional artist, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno in summer 1941 when it was occupied by Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where an exhibition of her drawings of Leibisch was held.
Etching by Esther Lurie of a group lined up for expulsion to the camps
Object
Sketch drawn by Esther Lurie in 1957, reconstructing a drawing she did in 1942 while she was imprisoned in the ghetto in German occupied Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. It depicts a ghetto street lined with buildings near a row of trees on a hillside with a building in the distance. Lurie's drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, while a prisoner in Kovno ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, exhibited and published in 1945, presented eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, a professional artist, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno in summer 1941 when it was occupied by Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where an exhibition of her drawings of Leibisch was held.
Esther Lurie sketch of the barbed wire fence and a gate in Kovno Ghetto
Object
Sketch of the Kovno Ghetto drawn by Esther Lurie in 1957, reconstructing a drawing she did in 1942 while she was imprisoned in the ghetto in German occupied Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. It depicts a barbed wire fence along a long road, where a man and woman stand talking near a gate. See 1996.3.8 for w watercolor of the same scene. Lurie's drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, while a prisoner in Kovno ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, exhibited and published in 1945, presented eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, a professional artist, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno in summer 1941 when it was occupied by Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where an exhibition of her drawings of Leibisch was held.
Drawing by Esther Lurie of the path behind the ghetto leading to the Ninth Fort
Object
Sketch of the hills behind the Kovno Ghetto leading to the Ninth Fort drawn by Esther Lurie in 1957, reconstructing a drawing she did in 1943, while she was imprisoned in the ghetto in German occupied Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. The Germans used the Ninth Fort as a prison and site for the torture and mass executions of 25,000 Jews from Kovno. Lurie's drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, while interned in Kovno ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, exhibited and published in 1945, presented eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, a professional artist, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno in summer 1941 when it was occupied by Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where an exhibition of her drawings of Leibisch was held.
Drawing by Esther Lurie of the Vilijampole neighborhood in Kovno Ghetto
Object
Drawing of deserted streets with barracks and small buildings in the Vilijampole blocks of Kovno Ghetto drawn by Esther Lurie in 1957, reconstructing a drawing she did in 1943, while she was imprisoned in the ghetto in German occupied Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. Lurie's drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, while interned in Kovno ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, exhibited and published in 1945, presented eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, a professional artist, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno in summer 1941 when it was occupied by Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where an exhibition of her drawings of Leibisch was held.
Esther Lurie watercolor of the barbed wire fence, Kovno Ghetto
Object
Watercolor of Kovno Ghetto created by Esther Lurie in 1957, reconstructing a drawing she did in 1941 while she was imprisoned in the ghetto in German occupied Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. It depicts a barbed wire fence along a long road, where a man and woman stand talking near a gate. Lurie's drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, while a prisoner in Kovno ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, exhibited and published in 1945, presented eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, a professional artist, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno in summer 1941 when it was occupied by Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where an exhibition of her drawings of Leibisch was held.
Drawing by Esther Lurie of the Yad Vashem Memorial Shrine
Object
Image of the Yad Vashem Memorial Shrine and surrounding hills drawn by Esther Lurie in Jerusalem in 1963. Lurie was a professional artist whose drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, and her later reconstructions, of life as a prisoner in Kovno Ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, present eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno in summer 1941 when it was occupied by Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where her drawings of Leibisch were exhibited.
Ghetto panorama and two buldings drawn by Esther Lurie
Object
Ink drawing of Kovno Ghetto created by Esther Lurie in the 1960s, reconstructing a drawing she did in 1943 while she was imprisoned in the ghetto in German occupied Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. It depicts the Elders Committee meeting place and the large blocks. Lurie's drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, while a prisoner in Kovno ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, exhibited and published in 1945, presented eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, a professional artist, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno in summer 1941 when it was occupied by Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where an exhibition of her drawings of Leibisch was held.
Drawing by Esther Lurie of a panoramic view of daily life in the Kovno ghetto
Object
Ink drawing of Kovno Ghetto created by Esther Lurie in the 1960s, reconstructing a drawing she did in 1943 while she was imprisoned in the ghetto in German occupied Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. It depicts the Elders Committee meeting place and the large blocks. Lurie's drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, while a prisoner in Kovno ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, exhibited and published in 1945, presented eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, a professional artist, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno in summer 1941 when it was occupied by Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where an exhibition of her drawings of Leibisch was held.
Drawing by Esther Lurie of a panoramic view of daily life in the Kovno ghetto
Object
Ink drawing of Kovno Ghetto created by Esther Lurie in the 1960s, reconstructing a drawing she did in 1943 while she was imprisoned in the ghetto in German occupied Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. It depicts the Elders Committee meeting place and the large blocks. Lurie's drawings and sketches, created from 1941-1944, while a prisoner in Kovno ghetto and Stutthof and Leibisch concentration camps, exhibited and published in 1945, presented eloquent visual and written testimony of daily life during the Holocaust. Esther, a professional artist, originally from Liepaja, Latvia, settled in Palestine in 1934. She was visiting her sister in Kovno in summer 1941 when it was occupied by Germany. She was confined to the ghetto and had to create portraits and paintings for the Germans. She also, at the request of the Jewish Council, dedicated herself to recording the daily life of the residents. In July 1944, the ghetto was liquidated. Esther was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where she continued to draw. Her family members were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. In August 1944, Esther was deported to Leibisch, and liberated by the Soviet Army on January 21, 1945. During the journey back to Palestine, she lived in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where an exhibition of her drawings of Leibisch was held.