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Drawing of flowers within a letter by a young Jewish refugee

Object | Accession Number: 1996.31.2

Drawing with letter on reverse created by a young Jewish refugee deported from an OSE-affiliated children's home in Izieu, France.

Artwork Title
Pour Maman
Date
approximately 1943-1944
Language
French
Classification
Art
Category
Children's art
Object Type
Children's drawings (lcsh)
Credit Line
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Alfred Ament
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About This Object

Physical Description
Image of a table with a flower vase on graph paper with letter on verso.
Dimensions
overall : 6.690 x 8.860 in. (16.993 x 22.504 cm.)
Materials
overall : paper, wax crayon, ink, pastels
Signature
reverse, lower center, pen : Jeannot
Inscription
Recto: "Pour Maman" written twice in pen and crayon; verso: letter written in pen with additional note in upper right corner in pen ["Dear Mommy, Thanks for your letter, I was happy to get it. I haven't written you because I didn't have any paper, but a boy gave me some. It's hardly snowing here anymore. Are you almost better, and if you're all right over there. I'm eating well, and I'm in good health Is it cold where you are and write me if it's snowing. When there was a lot of snow here we went tobogganing on the slopes. We had a real good time. Write Freddy that he shouldn't write me in German. There's a nice dog at the home we call Sami. The school is in the house and there's a special teacher for the school. She does a good job teaching us. Next to the house there's a farm with four dogs. 100,000,000 big kisses from your son Jeannot who is always thinking of you./ Jeannot/ See over"
Contributor
Artist: Hans Ament
Biography
Hans Ament was the son of Max Ament, born June 28, 1895, in Sanok, Poland, and Ernestina Reisz Ament, born September 29, 1902, in Budapest. The family left Austria for Belgium in 1939, planning to emigrate to America. A U.S. visa was issued to Hans on March 22, 1940, in Antwerp, but before he was able to leave, the Germans invaded Belgium and his family was forced to flee instead to France. Max Ament was deported on March 4, 1943, in convoy number fifty from Drancy, and was murdered at either Sobibor or Maidanek. On March 23, 1943, Ernestina Ament entered the sanatorium L'Esperance in Hauteville, several dozen kilometers from the home at Izieu, suffering from tuberculosis; she died on August 7, 1944. Hans Ament was deported on May 30, 1944, in convoy number seventy-five. His brother, Alfred, older by six years, was smuggled by OSE into Switzerland. He lives today in the United States.

Administrative History

Legal Status
Permanent Collection
Provenance
The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1996 by Alfred Ament.

Rights and Restrictions

Conditions on Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions on Use
No restrictions on use
 
Record last modified: 2019-06-13 12:15:41
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn11597

Also in Alfred Ament collection

Color drawing of a bust of a general created by Hans Ament (donor's brother), a young Jewish refugee, a Jewish refugee boy in a children's home; Drawing of flowers within a letter by a young Jewish refugee

Color drawing of a bust of a general created by a Jewish refugee boy in a children's home

Object

Drawing created by Hans Ament, a young Jewish refugee, in an OSE-affiliated children's home in Izieu, France, from which he was later deported.

View All 2 Items in the Collection