“Like discovering the Holy Grail”: Auschwitz Museum unveils Alfred Kantor’s extraordinary Holocaust sketchbook
Few Holocaust testimonies are as vivid and comprehensive as the illustrated diary created by Alfred Kantor. Born in Prague in 1923, the young Jewish artist was deported to Terezín in December 1941 as part of the first transport of men sent to establish the ghetto. Two years later, he was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he was imprisoned in the so-called Terezín Family Camp before being transferred to the Schwarzheide concentration camp in Germany.
Against all odds, Kantor survived. After enduring a death march in the final months of the war, he returned to Terezín, where he was liberated in May 1945. In the months that followed, he reconstructed his wartime experiences in an extraordinary album comprising 127 watercolours, drawings and written commentaries. The result is both a deeply personal memoir and an invaluable historical document.
Acquired very recently by the Auschwitz Museum, the album is now considered one of the most significant artistic testimonies created by a Holocaust survivor. We met Agnieszka Sieradzka, art historian at the Auschwitz Museum, to discuss the importance of this unique work.
The Auschwitz Museum has recently acquired Alfred Kantor’s original sketchbook. Why is this album so important?
“It is an extraordinary acquisition. The album contains 127 watercolours and drawings accompanied by Alfred Kantor’s own written descriptions. Together, they document his journey through Terezín, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Schwarzheide, from his deportation in 1941 to his liberation in May 1945.
“It is both an artistic work and a diary. What makes it exceptional is that it follows one individual through the entire concentration camp system. In our collection, it is certainly one of the most extensive artistic testimonies created by a former prisoner. I would even say that it is among the most remarkable Holocaust-related artistic albums preserved anywhere in the world.”
The album begins in Terezín
“Yes. It starts in December 1941, when Alfred Kantor arrived in Terezín as part of the first transport of young Jewish men sent there. Their task was to help build what would later become the ghetto.
“The drawings are remarkably colourful and extraordinarily detailed. They allow us to identify specific buildings and locations within Terezín. Each image is accompanied by a text written by Kantor himself, so we receive both a visual and a written account of what he witnessed.”
Beyond their artistic value, what do these drawings tell historians?
“They are an important historical source. We can recognise real places, follow events that occurred there and observe details that are absent from many other records.
“The album also contains original documents connected to Kantor’s life: postcards, identification numbers, a yellow star and even a ticket to a café in Terezín. These objects enrich the narrative and make it possible to follow his story step by step.”
How did Alfred Kantor manage to create and preserve his drawings?
“He began drawing in Terezín and continued in Auschwitz and later in Schwarzheide whenever he could obtain paper and pencils. After the war, he explained that drawing helped him survive. It allowed him to observe and record what was happening around him rather than surrender entirely to the role of a victim.
“Creating art became a form of psychological resistance. Most of the original drawings were destroyed because possessing them was extremely dangerous. Kantor hid some of them, while others were preserved by friends. After liberation, he recovered what he could and reconstructed many scenes from memory.
“Because he started this work immediately after the war, when his memories were still fresh, the level of detail is astonishing.”
One of the most striking sections concerns Auschwitz-Birkenau.
“Absolutely. Kantor arrived in Auschwitz on 18 December 1943. One drawing depicts his arrival at night on the Judenrampe. He writes: ‘First thought: what are all the spotlights for? A movie?’
“This is what makes the album so valuable. It records not only what he saw but also what he thought and felt in those moments.”
Alfred Kantor was imprisoned in the so-called Terezín Family Camp at Birkenau. Why is that significant?
“The Family Camp was a unique and highly unusual section of Birkenau. It served a propaganda purpose. Families remained together and were initially allowed to keep civilian clothes.
“Kantor documented everyday life there in words and images. We possess very few visual records showing what life actually looked like inside the Family Camp. Photography was strictly controlled and private photographs were forbidden. As a result, these drawings provide insights unavailable elsewhere.
“Almost all the Jews imprisoned in that sector were later murdered in the gas chambers. Kantor survived because he was selected for transfer to Schwarzheide shortly before the liquidation of the camp.”
His mother and his girlfriend Eva were among the victims.
“Yes. Both were murdered in Birkenau. Throughout the album, smoke from the crematoria appears repeatedly in the background. It is a reminder that prisoners gradually understood what was happening around them and what fate had befallen their relatives and friends.”
Some drawings depict scenes connected to the gas chambers. Could Kantor have witnessed these events directly?
“Probably not. Direct access to those areas was restricted to members of the Sonderkommando. However, information circulated within the camp. Prisoners talked. News spread despite the secrecy.
“What is important is that these images reflect what prisoners knew and understood at the time. They are part of a larger testimony about awareness within the camp.”
What struck you the most when you first saw this album?
“Its extraordinary precision. The drawings are almost photographic in their accuracy. Kantor had an exceptional visual memory, but he was also a trained artist. He reconstructed the album in 1945, when his memories were still vivid, and that combination of artistic skill and fresh recollection produced something truly remarkable.”
The album also contains a postcard he sent from Birkenau
“Yes. Prisoners in the Family Camp were required to send postcards to relatives. These messages formed part of Nazi propaganda. They were intended to reassure people outside the camp and create the illusion that conditions were acceptable.
“Of course, this was entirely false. But these postcards are important historical evidence of how the Nazi authorities manipulated information.”
The final pages follow the death march and his liberation
“Yes, and they are among the most moving sections of the album. Kantor carefully mapped his route through northern Bohemia, documenting mass graves, executions, starvation and the final collapse of the Nazi system.
“One drawing records the moment when the guards abandoned the prisoners near Terezín. Kantor writes: ‘We can’t believe it’s over.’ Another notes that only 175 men remained alive out of an original group of 1,000.
“He returned to Terezín where he finally became a free man again. There is something profoundly symbolic in that. His journey began there in 1941 and ended there in 1945.”
“The concentration camp system was designed to strip people of their identity and dignity. Prisoners were reduced to numbers, shaved heads and striped uniforms.
“But Alfred Kantor’s drawings show that this system ultimately failed. Despite everything, he preserved his humanity, his memory and his creativity. His work reminds us that even in the most brutal circumstances, people remained individuals with dignity, imagination and the will to bear witness.”
How did the Auschwitz Museum acquire the album?
“Representatives of the Kantor family contacted us because they were looking for a safe and permanent home for the diary. We immediately recognised its importance.
“After discussions, Alfred Kantor’s son and daughter decided that the Auschwitz Museum was the appropriate place for it.”
“I knew Alfred Kantor’s name and his book, which was published in the United States in 1971. I always assumed that the original album had long since entered the collection of a museum or memorial institution, perhaps somewhere in the United States.
“So I was genuinely surprised to learn that it was still in the possession of the family.
“The family approached us directly because they were looking for a safe and appropriate home for the diary, and they asked whether the Auschwitz Museum would be interested in acquiring it.
“For me, as an art historian who has been researching and working on the art of concentration camp prisoners for more than twenty years, it was like discovering the Holy Grail. It is an extraordinarily rare and unique album, unlike anything else I have encountered. It combines artistic value, documentary evidence and a deeply personal testimony.”
“I am very happy that everything worked out, that the family placed its trust in us, and that we were able to bring this remarkable work into the Museum’s collection. Our responsibility now is to preserve it, study it and make its story accessible to future generations.”
