Classroom activity:

Art and the Holocaust

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This resource is aimed at secondary school students, aged 11-18 and is designed to be used in the run up to Holocaust Memorial Day, on 27 January. It will introduce your students to the Holocaust through art, and to encourage them to enter the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s art competition, ‘Drawing Inspiration’. This classroom activity can be a starting point for a greater scheme of work on the Holocaust (and subsequent genocides) or can stand alone. Holocaust Memorial Day, 27 January, is the day for everyone to remember the millions of people killed in the Holocaust, Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. 27 January marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. This activity has several sections, each one designed to stand alone but all will complement each other. These sections will cover:

1) Art banned by the Nazis 2) Art created during the Holocaust 3) Art looted by the Nazis 4) Art created after the Holocaust.

Whichever section(s) you use, please see the ‘what next’ section at the end.

1) Art banned by the Nazis

Split your students into groups and give each group access to the following 8 paintings (either by displaying them on a whiteboard/screen, or by printing off copies).

Ask the groups to try to determine which of these paintings was banned by the Nazis – and why.

Each group should then present to the others the paintings they think were banned. Discuss any similarities and differences between the groups’ choices.

Why do they think the artwork was banned? Can they come up with any reasons?

Now reveal to the students which paintings were banned, and why. Does their opinion of the piece of artwork change once they know why it was banned?

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“Degenerate art” was the term given by the Nazis to any piece of artwork that did not fit their ideal. Artwork that was classed as degenerate art was often abstract, or expressionistic, as Hitler particularly did not like modern art. Artwork by Jewish artists was often deemed degenerate art too. In 1937, the Nazi party held an art exhibition in Munich to highlight art considered degenerate. Hitler, who was himself an artist, preferred realistic artworks, yet abstract and modern styles were considered more popular at the time; hosting a degenerate art exhibition was an opportunity to mock modern art. Some of the artwork was later burned by the Nazis.

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Did your students realise which paintings were “degenerate”? Does it change their opinion of the artwork?

1) ‘Self Portrait with Felt Hat’, Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch,

1853-1890) – as an inspiration for the expressionism movement, his art was considered degenerate.

2) ‘Oriental pleasure garden’, Paul Klee (German-Swiss,

1879-1940) – 17 of his pictures were included in the degenerate art exhibition: his art was influenced by expressionism, cubism and surrealism; all three movements were condemned by the Nazis as degenerate.

3) ‘Improvisation 3’, Wassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866-1944) – his art was considered degenerate because it was abstract; three of his Compositions were displayed in the degenerate art exhibition.

4) ‘Walchensee’ (the name of a lake in GermanY), Lovis

Corinth (German, 1858-1925) – all art painted after he had a stroke (including the picture above) was considered degenerate.

5) ‘The Artist and his family’, Lovis Corinth (German, 1858-

1925) – this was painted before his stroke and so was not considered degenerate art.

6) ‘Czardar dancers’, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (German 1880-

1938) – an expressionist artist, over 600 of his works were destroyed or sold in 1937, as his art was deemed degenerate.

7) ‘Hunter in the dunes’, Max Liebermann (German, 1847-1935)

– He resigned from his position as president of the Prussian Academy of Arts when they stopped exhibiting Jewish artists. His art was banned and considered degenerate by the Nazis because he was Jewish.

8) ‘Mona Lisa’, Leonardo Da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519) – this classical painting would not have been considered degenerate by the Nazis.

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2) Art created during the Holocaust Show your students the two different sets of artwork below. What are their initial thoughts and reactions? Do they know who might have created it and why?

Ask your students to think about who created art in the Holocaust. Why would people use art, what did they hope to achieve?

Explain that these paintings were all painted by people who were persecuted during the Holocaust, and who documented their experiences. Is this artwork what they were expecting from those persecuted in the Holocaust? These represent two very different responses to the persecution. Why do your students think that is the case? The first three paintings were painted by Charlotte Salomon. Charlotte was born in Berlin in 1917. In January 1939 she went to live in France. In

1940, she was interned together with her grandfather at Gurs camp. After a few

months they were released and Charlotte began painting a collection, entitled ‘Life?

Or Theatre?’ from which these pictures are taken. In 1943, Charlotte married

Alexander Nagler and a few months later they were taken, first to Drancy camp and

then on to Auschwitz. Charlotte, who was four months pregnant, was probably

murdered on arrival. Her husband died shortly after.

For more information on Charlotte and the images please see the Jewish Historical

Museum’s website: http://www.jhm.nl/collection/specials/charlotte-salomon

Collection Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Salomon Foundation.

Charlotte Salomon®

These second three images are just some of those created surreptitiously by some

of the 15,000 children imprisoned in the concentration camp at Terezín, also known

as Theresienstadt, just outside of Prague.

The children painted their life and experiences in the camp but also they painted

their hopes and dreams. The children were all taken to Auschwitz concentration

camp. Fewer than 100 survived.

For more information on the Terezín Children’s Art Collection, please see the website of the Jewish Museum in Prague: http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/ © The Jewish Museum Prague

Does knowing this change your perception or opinion of the paintings?

What do these paintings tell us about the experiences people went through in the Holocaust?

Do these paintings leave us with more questions about the Holocaust?

If so, what are these questions and how could we go about answering them? Your students may have questions about the Holocaust as a result of the paintings. The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has lesson plans and assemblies which may answer these questions. You can find these here: hmd.org.uk/year/education/2014

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© The Jewish Museum Prague

Margit Koretzová, 8.4.1933 – 4.10.1944

Anita Spitzová,6.1.1933 – 4.10.1944 Ruth Schächterová, 24.8.1930 – 18.5.1944

Collection Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam. ©

Charlotte Salomon Foundation.

Charlotte Salomon®

© The Jewish Museum Prague

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3) Art looted by the Nazis

By deeming artwork “degenerate” (see section 1, above), the Nazis were able to take certain pieces of art from museums and galleries and sell them abroad for foreign currency. Additionally, they stole artwork – or forcibly bought it at a lower-than-market price – from individuals, primarily Jewish collectors, as part of the Nazi persecution of the Jews and the seizure of all their properties. These paintings might enter the private art collections of Hitler and other Nazi leaders, or be sold on the international art market.

Many of the stolen artworks were sold on, to museums, galleries and individuals, making it hard for those whose art work was stolen to find it, and to claim it back. Discuss with your students the dilemma about looted art – who does it belong to? Possible options are:

The artist

The person who bought it last – whether or not they knew it was looted

The person who owned it before it was stolen Role play: Split the class into pairs and give each pair one of the two cards. In each pair, one person owns a painting and the other person is looking to acquire it. Do not let the students see each other’s cards. They need to role play to resolve the situation, keeping in mind the key questions…Who does the art belong to? Who should it belong to? The groups can be duplicated, or alternatively, students can be arranged in small groups rather than pairs.

Optional extras:

SUITABLE FOR OLDER STUDENTS: Add a third person to each pair. The third person in each scenario is searching for the truth (either a newspaper or investigator). What do they add to the dilemma?

Have a class discussion to decide ‘who owns art?’. Ask for volunteers to share what they decided and how they resolved tricky issues?

The Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act’ was passed in England and

Scotland in 2009, giving national museums and galleries the power to return

art in their possession that had been stolen by the Nazis. Previously these

institutions had been legally unable to return looted art, but could offer a

payment to the former owners of the artwork.

Welsh and Northern Irish museums and galleries were already able to return

artwork to their owners.

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You may like to use this case study to inspire your students while they do the role play above, or you may like to share this case study afterwards, as a specific example of looted art. With thanks to the Commission for Looted Art in Europe for sharing this case study.

The Rosauer Collection On 12 March 1938 the Nazis took power in Austria. The three unmarried Rosauer sisters were then in their late 70s and had led quiet lives in Vienna, surrounded by family and friends. They lived together in a spacious apartment, the walls of which were hung with 170 wonderful paintings, collected by the family.

After the Nazi takeover, their lives changed forever. In June 1938 they, like all Jews, were required to complete Asset Registrations, listing everything they owned, as a prelude to its seizure. In November they were forced to move to a much smaller apartment and were moved again to an even smaller one in March 1942. In January 1940, the eldest sister, Malvine died in Vienna at the age of 80. On 10 September 1942, the other two sisters, Jenny and Berta, then aged 80 and 78 respectively, were deported on Transport IV/10 to the concentration camp of Theresienstadt and from there, on 29 September, to the extermination camp at Treblinka where they were murdered. For decades their surviving family searched unsuccessfully for the seized paintings. Their great-nephew Rudi Epstein, who had lost his parents and all his relatives, always dreamt that one day, for the sake of his aunts and lost family, it would be possible to recover the missing paintings. When he died, he bequeathed the missing collection to his great-niece, who kept his dream alive. In 2006, the Commission for Looted Art in Europe (CLAE) was asked to help find the lost paintings. In October 2010, as a result of its research, the very first of the Rosauer paintings was returned to the family.

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Portrait of a young woman in white holding a music book in her hands in a landscape by Johann Baptist Lampi the Elder had been sold from Vienna in 1938 to Hitler’s art dealer, Julius Böhler of Munich, who sold it in 1940 to another of Hitler’s dealers, Karl Haberstock, who in turn sold it to Hitler’s Linz Collection in April 1941. CLAE recovered the painting from the German government which had possession of it for over 60 years. The family wrote that it was a very emotional moment; that it felt as if it was a homecoming. They said that their Uncle Rudi would have wept with joy. On 6 April 2011, further work by CLAE led to a second painting, Portrait of a young woman with a drawing instrument by Dresden painter Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein (1788-68) being returned to the family.

This painting had hung in Dresden’s famous Gemäldegalerie since 1940. It had been acquired from the Nazis in Vienna by Hans Posse, Director of the Gemäldegalerie and head of Hitler’s Special Commission Linz, who was tasked with collecting works for Hitler’s planned museum in Linz, Austria. It too had been sold to Posse by Hitler’s dealer, Julius Böhler of Munich, who had acquired it in 1938 in Vienna. The Rosauer sisters suffered a terrible fate, and virtually every trace of them was erased by the Nazis. These first restitutions of the sisters’ paintings have restored a precious family link so brutally broken almost 70 years ago. © Commission for Looted Art in Europe 2013

http://www.lootedartcommission.com/

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Group One: Optional third player:

Group Two:

Group Three:

You are an art dealer.

You own a painting that

that you know was

stolen by the Nazis.

You don’t think there is

anything wrong with

this as you bought it

from a museum legally.

You are the grandchild

of a Holocaust survivor.

You know that your

grandparents had art

work that was stolen by

the Nazis. You don’t

know where it is now

but you want to get it

back.

You are an art collector.

You are trying to buy a

masterpiece painting

you think was stolen by

the Nazis. This piece

would add value to your

collection but you are

reluctant to purchase it

if it is suspect.

You are a private

investigator.

You have been asked by

a family to find out what

happened to their art

collection; they know it

was stolen by the Nazis

but don’t know where it

is now.

You are an individual.

You have been given a

painting by your uncle.

Someone claims that it

is theirs and that it was

stolen by the Nazis. You

think it belongs to you,

because your uncle gave

it to you as a gift.

You are a researcher.

You have to prove who

a piece of artwork

belongs to.

How would you go

about doing this?

You are a lawyer.

You represent the

person who is trying to

acquire the art. How

can you help them find

out if the artwork is

theirs and, if it is, get

the artwork back?

You are an auction

house.

You are in possession of

lots of artwork that you

would like to sell. You

do not know anything

about its history and

you just want to sell it

for a high price.

You are a grandchild of

a Holocaust survivor.

You know your

grandparents had to sell

their art at a below-

market price to the

Nazis. You would like to

get this art back.

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Group Four:

Group Five:

Group Six:

You are museum.

You have been offered

some amazing art work

at a very cheap price;

you suspect that it was

stolen by the Nazis and

you don’t want to buy it

if it was bought illegally.

You are the UK

government.

You have been

approached by a UK art

gallery which does not

want to return art to

Holocaust survivors.

They want you to advise

them.

You are a national

newspaper.

You have uncovered a

network of artwork

stolen by the Nazis, now

being displayed in

national galleries. You

want to expose the

story.

You are an art gallery.

A group of Holocaust

survivors believe that

art in your gallery

belongs to them. You

bought the art legally so

are reluctant to give it

to them.

You are a gallery.

You are concerned that

some of your artwork

may have been stolen

by the Nazis. Even

though you bought it

legally, you wish to sell

it as quickly as possible.

You represent a group

of Holocaust survivors

and their descendants.

The group that you

represent believes that

art stolen from

themselves is now

hanging in a gallery and

they want it back.

You are a researcher.

You think that you have

found some artwork

stolen by the Nazis on a

major art trading

website.

You are an art trading

website.

You have been

approached by a

researcher claiming that

art work on your site

was stolen by the Nazis.

You are an individual.

You purchased a

painting at a car boot

sale and you are now

selling it on an art

trading website. You

don’t know who the

artwork belonged to

before.

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4) Art created after the Holocaust

Ask your students if they think it is ok for people other than Holocaust survivors to create art commemorating or about the Holocaust. Why/why not?

An exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in 2008 was deemed controversial when art created by Holocaust survivors was displayed next to art created by an artist born afterwards. Do your students think this is problematic? You could encourage them to have a debate discussing the pros and cons of this.

The following artwork has been created by the artist Gideon Summerfield, with the consent of the Holocaust survivors, who all chose which item they would pose with, or would be highlighted. Show your students the artwork and ask them what they think the items represent; why did the survivors choose those things?

Give your students an opportunity to paint or draw their own picture to commemorate the Holocaust.

©Gideon Summerfield

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©Gideon Summerfield

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What next

If your students have created their own artwork, encourage them to enter the online competition, ‘Drawing Inspiration’. Further details can be found here: drawinginspiration.hmd.org.uk

You may also wish to offer your students the chance to create artwork in their own time, in response to the competition themes.

Offer your students an opportunity to reflect on what they have seen and discussed. Give them a chance to ask questions.

You could arrange for the paintings (included in the appendices), or the pictures your students create, to be displayed in the school.

For more information and more case studies about looted art, please see: Commission for Looted Art’s website: http://www.lootedartcommission.com/

Central Registry of Information on Looted Cultural Property 1933-1945’s website: http://www.lootedart.com/

There are many more paintings and artwork created during the Holocaust and afterwards, as a response, that your students may wish to look at. Please see, for example: http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/museum/art_museum.asp http://www.jhm.nl/collection/specials/charlotte-salomon http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/ http://www.ushmm.org/research/research-in-collections/overview/art-and-artifacts

Ask your students what they would like to do next… would they like to see artwork connected to the Holocaust, would they like to know more about it?

For more information on the Holocaust and subsequent genocides, please see our website: hmd.org.uk For lesson plans, assemblies and classroom activities on the Holocaust and subsequent genocides, please see: hmd.org.uk/year/education/2014

encourage your students to take a step for Holocaust Memorial Day and share this action with everyone else who has taken a step through a special website: journeys.hmd.org.uk