Created by Matt Goorno, Anthony Ji, Ethan Na, & Alex Signorovitch

Introduction

Adolf Hitler, an unsuccessful artist rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, thought of himself as an expert, or connoisseur of the arts. In his book Mein Kampf, he hatefully attacked modern art and labeled it as degenerate. When Hitler became chancellor of Germany, he enforced these opinions. The Nazis favored classical portraits and landscapes, particularly of German origin. They saw German classics as pieces of art that further enhanced their German pride.

The Third Reich deemed modern art as degenerate and would place these works in museums to mock them. These were known as degenerate art museums and were one of the challenges many artists faced.

Based on Hitlers ideology’s, the Nazis rejected change and innovation, because they led to free thinking and independence. They hated how modernism rejected traditional principles of art. Therefore, the Nazi Party was extremely opposed to the modern school of thought in regard to art.

The Nazi party presented many challenges for artists. “un-German” artists were fired from their jobs, had their art removed from galleries, and had their books burnt. Some art was placed in museums known as Degenerate Art Museums, a museum dedicated to mocking artwork deemed “degenerate” or “un-German”. They were placed in unflattering ways and labeled with derogatory comments. These types of art and artists were considered to dispurify Aryan blood and were labeled as parasitical and causing the deterioration of German society.

The goal of these museums was to convince the masses that modern art was an attack on Germans. All of these are gears in the Nazi machine of propaganda which aimed to persuade the German people of the Nazis’ virtue.

Meanwhile on the battlefield, Nazis plundered several hundred works of art. They stole from Jewish homes and museums, sometimes through brute force or others under the guise of an art protection agency.

The Nazis worked to take away anything that was culturally Jewish from Germany. They persecuted Jewish artists and burned their works. Even as they continued to suppress artists and their art, many refused to cease expressing themselves.

In 1933, just after Hitler became chancellor of Germany, Nazis began spreading propaganda through Theatre, art, and film. They promoted Nazi values and the Reich Culture Chamber was established and put in charge of supervising all parts of German culture. Many books were then banned and put on a black list and all books on this list were ordered to be removed from all homes and libraries.

Music was one of the only ways for Jews to express themselves when they were being discriminated against and segregated. The Warsaw Orchestra was another one of the channels through which Ghetto residents could enjoy music. The Warsaw Orchestra was created and founded by struggling musicians as a form of resistance to show the Nazis that they could be happy despite the dire situations. The Warsaw Orchestra was forced to close in April 1942, however, because of their playing of German works. This is yet another example of Nazi suppression of disapproved culture.

There existed singers upon the streets of Łódź (Wooch), Warsaw, and Krakow, lamenting life in the Ghettos musically to existing melodies. Another ghetto where music thrived, arguably more so, was the Vilna Ghetto. It included several choirs, a conservatory, and a symphonic orchestra. Such symphonies were also present in other ghettos, such as Łódź and Krakow. Many lyrics and melodies were composed and developed in these Ghettos, which likely would not have been preserved if not for the later acts of recollection of anthologies by former Ghetto residents.

This compilation of these works are one of the reasons we know so much about music from the Vilna Ghetto, as Shmerke Kaczerginski (shmirk katerginski, poet, teacher, and partisan compiled Lider fun di getos un latern, a collection of 236 lyrics and 100 melodies. Another ghetto where music thrived was the Terezin ghetto. Founded in 1941, there were a plethora of composers and musicians detained there, such as Viktor Ullmann and Gideon Klein. Two other compilers of Holocaust pieces were Yehudah Eisman, saving Bucharestian works, and Zami Feder, saving works from Bergen-Belsen camp. It is important that we learn about and appreciate these people who saved cultures that would otherwise have been destroyed and forgotten.

Despite death constantly looming over them, these artists continued to risk their lives to save the culture they created.

Here is a testimony from a servier. Edward Polidi was a white Bulgarian Jewish male who was born December 3d, 1935. Eddie was 4 when the war started. He was born and lived in Hungary. Edward’s uncle Raphael was a conductor, businessman, and poet. He however, disappeared soon after antisemitism rose in bulgaria. Edward and his family had to move into the Ghettos which were in a different part of the city. In Vidin, the ghettos where they were transported to, he was asked to play in a gathering with struggling and starving Jews in transit. He noticed that this performance made people cry and clearly elicited an emotional response. He felt that this performance was a way to communicate with the people, and to connect with them on a deeper level. (Insert video).

After WWII ended, many Jewish survivors turned to art as a way to cope with their stress and anxiety. Some famous works of art include “Beaten” by Jacob Lipschitz (lip-shits), “The Song is Over” by Patel Fantl (Pah-tel, Fan-tal), and “One Spring” by Karl Robert Bodek. Several songs were composed as well such as Arnold Schoenberg’s “A Survivor from Warsaw”, Charles Davidson’s “I Never Saw a Butterfly”, and Kryysztof (Chris-Toff) Penderecki’s (Pen-der-Ek-ees) “Dies Irae” (I-Ray). This demonstrates how important art was to Jewish survivors and how art was used to spread the message of oneself.

Bibliography & Resources

Ethan – “Literature of the Holocaust.” Britannica Kids, kids.britannica.com/students/article/literature-of-the-Holocaust/311716.

Anthony – “YIVO | Holocaust: Music and the Holocaust.” YIVO Encyclopedia, yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Holocaust/Music_and_the_Holocaust.

Anthony 2 – IWitness | IWitness – Education Through Genocide Testimony. https://iwitness.usc.edu/testimony/17720?search=music&category=testimonies&from=%2Fsearch

“1950s.” Obelisk Art History, www.arthistoryproject.com/timeline/20th-century/1950-1959.

Hablik, Wenzel. Utopian Buildings. 1922. Wenzel Hablik Museum, Itzhoe, Germany

Kandinsky, Wassily. Der Blaue Reiter. 1903. Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany

Birkle, Albert. Mr. Spindler. 1921. Neue Galerie, New York, US

Heckel, Erich. La Briqueterie. 1907

Alex – “Belsen 1945.” Imperial War Museums, www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/95.

Matt- “The Art of World War II – Google Arts and Culture.” Google Arts & Culture, artsandculture.google.com/usergallery/kgLCucQL-JTiLA.

Matt- M.S. Rau. “The Power of Post-War Art.” M.S. Rau, 30 Nov. 2022, rauantiques.com/blogs/canvases-carats-and-curiosities/the-power-of-post-war-art#.
“TRAILER – Triumph of the Will (1935).” MUBI, mubi.com/en/films/triumph-of-the-will/trailer.

Shafran, Rabbi Avi. “Repulsive Raid Reaction.” Rabbi Avi Shafran, 11 Sept. 2022, www.rabbiavishafran.com/repulsive-raid-reaction.

1945 Nazi Propaganda Poster. encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/1945-nazi-propaganda-poster.

Schwarz, Géraldine, and Géraldine Schwarz. “The Wannsee Conference: Mankind’S Most Evil 90 Minutes.” The New European, 14 Jan. 2022, www.theneweuropean.co.uk/geraldine-schwarz-on-wannsee.

Artifact Statement

Artist’s Walk

Our Holocaust artifact is called, “Artist’s Walk,” a representation of the changes and struggles art and artists went through during the Nazi period. Our goal was to convey the hardships and challenges that the Nazis presented for artists. Our hope is for the viewers to feel a sense of inspiration after learning how artists worked to keep their creativity, culture, and messages alive.

We decided to use lots of model magic, pictures, and electronics. The model magic was used to sculpt the more difficult parts of our plane and figure, the pictures were used as symbolism in the background, and the electronics were used to light up certain areas and spin the rotor on the plane. We decided to use black as our main color so that our multi-colored figure and pictures would stand out more. Unfortunately, we had trouble deciding how to represent the Nazis.

At first we wanted to make a huge figure with a nazi symbol placed on his face, however, we didn’t have the material needed to create such a large figure so we decided to create a plane with a Nazi symbol on the wings. Our diorama contains multiple symbols such as our figure in the center representing the artists and their colorful creativity.

The candle the figure, which represents an artist is holding symbolizes the hope and courage they carry to resist the Nazis taunting. The hands that hold the candle are painted black as if the figures’ hands are burnt, this is to represent how the artists kept creating and expressing themselves even if it meant they were mocked and persecuted.

The plane represents the Nazis and the rotor in front of it represents their constant attempts to extinguish the artist’s culture by constantly humiliating it. The door underneath the plane represents the enlightenment many artists felt by expressing themselves through their artwork and ignoring the Nazis constant attempts to knock them down.

Finally, the pictures posted in the background were chosen to symbolize how art changed from before and after WWII. A lot became more sullen and depicted more tragedies from death camps. This is why we decided to memorizable this topic.

We believe that expressing oneself is very important, especially for people who survived death camps and it is our job to make sure their stories and art aren’t forgotten.

Explore our Gallery of Images

Personal Reflections

The Battle of Ideas

~Ethan Na, Class of 2025

“Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.”
― Salvador Dali Name

My name is Ethan Na and I was part of the Artwork, Music, Poetry and Literature group and mainly worked on the artifact, artist’s statement, and video editing. In our diorama, We decided to focus on the sp[truggles many artists faced due to either their Jewish heritage or nazi contradiction.

Working on the video editing and artifact really excited me and was what made this experience fun. It combined my two favorite activities, video production and creating things. Because everyone got to do what they were able to do, it felt great to be able to do what I liked and not worrying about hogging everything.

Working on this project taught me a lot of information that I wouldn’t have known or cared to learn if I was able to choose what I wanted to do. This taught me that it’s ok if you don’t always get what you want and make the best of every situation. Despite the thrilling experience, accepting that other people have better ideas or different ones was a little difficult. But accepting other people’s ideas ultimately leads to a better artifact and documentary that everyone could be pleased with.

Final Thoughts

Alex Signorovitch, Class of 2025

“You’ll never know how close you are to victory if you give up”
~Jay Samit

My name is Alex Signorovitch and I was part of the Art, Poetry and Literature group in the Fenn school Holocaust museum project. In this project several groups of 3-4 people each created an artifact to represent a different event during the Holocaust.

As part of the artwork, literature and poetry group I mainly worked on our artifact/representation in the change in art. This project has helped me learn a lot about the holocaust, and why it is so very important to not forget it and keep teaching about it to later generations.

Additionally, the project helped me improve my skills, such as, symbolism, engaging writing, and thinking about who you intended to be your audience. Lastly, the main task that helped me grow was writing the statement that describes the project we created. This was difficult because we had say just the right amount no more than 1.5 pages otherwise it would be too long and not be very captivating for the reader to continue reading, thus we had to mostly talk about the difficult to understand things.

Art, Poetry & Literature