Overview
- Brief Narrative
- 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
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Alfred Ament
- Signature
- reverse, lower center, pen : Jeannot
- 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.
Physical Details
- Language
- French
- Classification
-
Art
- Category
-
Children's art
- Object Type
-
Children's drawings (lcsh)
- Physical Description
- Image of a table with a flower vase on graph paper with letter on verso.
- Dimensions
- overall: Height: 6.690 inches (16.993 cm) | Width: 8.860 inches (22.504 cm)
- Materials
- overall : paper, wax crayon, ink, pastels
- 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"
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1996 by Alfred Ament.
- Record last modified:
- 2024-10-03 13:06:44
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn11597
Download & Licensing
In-Person Research
- By Appointment
- Request 21 Days in Advance of Visit
- Plan a Research Visit
- Request to See This Object
Contact Us
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.
