Children’s drawings from Terezín ghetto added to UNESCO register
A unique collection of children’s drawings from the Terezín Ghetto, housed at the Jewish Museum in Prague since the end of the war, has been added to the prestigious UNESCO Memory of the World Register. Created between 1942 and 1944 by children imprisoned in the ghetto, many of whom were later deported to Auschwitz, the collection includes around 4,500 drawings. I spoke with the museum’s curator, Michaela Sidenberg, about its significance.
How many pictures are included in the collection of children's drawings from Terezín, and over what period were they created?
“The collection is the world's largest collection of children's artistic expression from the period of the Shoah. It emerged in the ghetto Theresienstadt between 1943 and 1944 under the tutelage of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis. There are approximately 4,500 original authentic pieces.”
Can you tell us more about the teacher Friedl Dicker-Brandeis? What role did she play in these artworks, in their creation?
“Her role was absolutely crucial. Even though we tend to interpret the material as spontaneous artistic expression by children aged from 10 to 14, she was the absolutely crucial moderator.
“Every single lesson that she organized—we mustn't forget that all these lessons were strictly improvised in extreme conditions of a transit concentration camp—was in itself an act of bravery.
“But she not only gave the children an outlet as a sort of therapy in these horrendous conditions, but she also offered what she considered a substitute for a regular curriculum that was strictly forbidden.”
Do we know how many children participated in these classes and how many of these children actually survived?
"Based on our records, the estimate is that it was over 100 children who were able to enrol in Friedl’s classes at different stages of her organizing the art classes in Theresienstadt. And there were only a handful of children who survived. I would say over 20, 30 kids from this entire group.”
What do we know about the impact the lessons had on the children during their stay in Theresienstadt, from the recollections of those who survived?
“In retrospect, from the many interviews that I was able to conduct with the survivors, we know that it was absolutely crucial for them to spend the time with an adult who did have the time for them and did not hesitate to take them as partners.
“So it was always considered by all the interviewees that I had as an absolutely crucial moment, something that they cherished, never forgot from their time they were incarcerated in the ghetto."
Finally, what does it mean to the Jewish Museum that this collection has now been added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register?
“It's a great honour in the first place. And I have to say that we are not the only collection. It was a collective initiative. There are 17 collections of children's art, children's drawings and writings from the period between 1914 and 1950 that were inscribed collectively as one documentary unit on this register.
“But as I said, it's a great honour and we do have great plans with promoting this collection that is already quite known within that new scope.”
