Art
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David Friedmann’s story is not just a story of dealing with the horrors of the Holocaust but also a story of a second chance and hopes despite immense grief and hardships. The artist David Friedmann was born in Mährisch Ostrau, Austria (now Ostrava, Czech Republic), but moved to Berlin in 1911. In 1944, Friedman was…
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The story of Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker (1897–1940) unfolds like a World War II drama—complete with a daring escape from the Nazis, a tragic accident, an opera singer, and the plundering of a world-class art collection. Goudstikker was one of Amsterdam’s leading Jewish art dealers, renowned for his connoisseurship and scholarly expertise, and his…
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I once painted skies.Vast, open, careless heavens that dripped sunlight and hope.My brush danced with joy, my palette a chorus of life.But then came the grey. It was not the grey of morning mist or soft winter clouds—It was the grey of silence,of smoke that climbed like prayerfrom chimneys built to erase names. I was…
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(Originally posted November 2017) We might have been able to get out of it, but we didn’t want to. Since we’re in it, we’re going. In this case, it’s best to leave things as you find them. We’ve been allowed to take all our luggage—a good sign. Maybe they were right and we’re following the…
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A picture tells a thousand words, and in this case, they truly do. The drawings and cartoons are made by Emile Franken. I am not sure what happened to Emile. I do know he was born on 15 April 1921 somewhere in the Netherlands and he survived the war. I also know he spent time…
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This blog will not contain a lot of text, mainly photographs and art of soldiers who served during World War II, and will contain short descriptions. The photograph above was discovered by Levi Bettwieser, a passionate collector of old film rolls who was lucky enough to stumble upon 31 undeveloped rolls of film full of…
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Art can be a powerful medium when expressing emotions or illustrating life as experienced. Artist Bedřich Fritta who was born Fritz Taussig expressed his experiences of the Holocaust via art. Fritta was captured and deported on 4 December 1941 to the Theresienstadt ghetto. His wife and son followed in 1942. Fritta and other illustrators in…
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Few pieces of classical music have achieved the cultural, emotional, and historical significance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, commonly known as the “Choral” Symphony. Completed in 1824, this monumental work stands as one of the most influential and celebrated compositions in Western music. But what makes Beethoven’s Ninth…
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Isidor Straus and his wife Ida were prominent passengers aboard the Titanic. Isidor Straus was born in Germany in 1845 and immigrated to the United States with his family—when he was a child. He eventually became a successful businessman and co-owner of Macy’s department store in New York City, along with his brother Nathan. Isidor…
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On March 24, 1941, the first train transport of Dutch artworks took place to the newly established art bunker in the Sint-Pietersberg. The Dutch stored approximately 800 art treasures in the Limburg art bunker, including works by Vermeer, Paulus Potter, and Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch.” The Dutch kept the artworks during the war in the…
History of Sorts 