Overview
- Interview Summary
- Wolf Kahn, born in Stuttgart, Germany, discusses his father, who was the conductor of the Stuttgart Philharmonic; his mother, who left their family when he was a toddler; his father’s new wife; his unpleasant relationship with his stepmother; living with his paternal grandmother in Frankfurt, Germany; his stepmother’s support of the Nazis; learning English from a family retainer from England; being encouraged to draw; living at the entrance of the Botanical Gardens in Frankfurt; being 11 years old when the war began; going on a Kindertransport to England; living in Cambridge and staying with a family who mistreated him; living with another family, the Purvises, who put him in school; making friends with the English children; going to New York, NY when the Blitzkrieg began; the journey on the “Volendam”; reuniting with his father; attending the High School of Music & Art in New York; joining the Navy and passing the Eddy test; getting out of the Navy and attending The New School in New York; studying with Stuart Davis; transferring and joining his brother at The Hofmann School; his interactions with Hans Hofmann and becoming his studio assistant; attending the University of Chicago and graduating after eight months; receiving a scholarship to go to School of Humanities; deciding to go to work in the woods; returning to New York and helping to found the Hansa Gallery; his first show; influences on his art; living in Venice, Italy and how it changed his style; living in Deer Isle, Maine for a summer and its influences on his work; and his thoughts with regards to painting landscapes.
- Interviewee
- Wolf Kahn
- Date
-
interview:
2012 February 24
- Geography
-
creation:
New York (N.Y.)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Story Preservation Initiative
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Extent
-
4 digital files : WAV.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Restrictions on use. Restrictions may exist. Contact the Museum for further information: reference@ushmm.org
- Copyright Holder
- Story Preservation Initiative
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Art galleries, Commercial. Artists. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Personal narratives. Jewish children in the Holocaust. Jewish children--England. Jewish children--United States. Jewish refugees--England. Jews--Germany--Stuttgart. Kindertransports (Rescue operations) Landscape painters. Refugee children--England. World War, 1939-1945--Children. World War, 1939-1945--Refugees. Men--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Cambridge (England) Deer Isle (Me.) Frankfurt am Main (Germany) London (England) New York (N.Y.) Stuttgart (Germany) United States--Emigration and immigration.
- Corporate Name
- Volendam (Screw steamer)
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The Story Preservation Initiative produced the oral history interview with Wolf Kahn on February 24, 2012 in New York, NY. Mary Kuechenmeister, on behalf of the Story Preservation Initiative, donated the interview to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on March 3, 2016.
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 09:37:10
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn538192
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