They Shall Be Counted

Activities Overview

Next, there will be some activities for you to complete with some of the artwork featured in the exhibition.

First, you will read some background information on the artist, Erich Lichtblau-Leskly, and Theresienstadt, the

ghetto/concentration camp where Erich was a prisoner and where he created his artwork.

Today you will learn about one of the special exhibitions at Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center called

They Shall Be Counted: The Theresienstadt Ghetto Art of Erich Lichtblau-Leskly.

Before we begin…

What do you think the title of the exhibit “They Shall Be Counted”

means? Take a few minutes to write

down your ideas in your notes.

Answers will vary, but an example: They Shall Be Counted references the many people who

were murdered or died of disease, starvation, harsh conditions, etc. during the

Holocaust. The title tries to bring recognition to all those who

were lost by acknowledging the fact that they existed.

Who was Erich Lichtblau-

Leskly?

■ Erich Lichtblau-Leskly was born on June 16, 1911, in what was then Austria-Hungary. As a young man, Erich worked decorating store windows until he enrolled in school to study commercial design. In March 1937, Erich married Elsa Silbigerand settled in the Czech Republic working as a commercial decorator.

■ After the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia, Erich and Elsa decided to move to Prague where Erich found work as a construction worker. From there, the couple was deported to a forced labor camp and then to Theresienstadt, arriving on November 26, 1942.

Erich and his wife, Elsa

In Theresienstadt, Erich was assigned to work on design projects in the

Technical Department, affording him access to art materials, which he used to secretly create artwork that showed

life unfolding around him. Painting became a means of survival and

spiritual resistance for Erich. He later reflected, “For me not to paint would be

not to live.”

Erich documented prisoner interactions, personal encounters, and stories from ghetto folklore. As a way to survive the

horror around him, Erich recorded life in Theresienstadt through the only lens he

knew - painting. Erich later said, “I painted what I saw, and that’s how I

saw it.”

Reflection Question: What do you think Erich means when he says, “For me

not to paint would be not to live”?

Answers will vary, but an example: Painting for Erich was a means of spiritual resistance and a connection to his former life before the war. It was a way for

him to hold on to part of his identity in an environment where little was in his control. Artmaking was also a way for him to

process and deal with what was happening around him.

Reflection Question: What do you think Erich means when he says, “For me

not to paint would be not to live”?

■ During the summer of 1944, the Nazis deported other artists from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz after discovering the secret artwork they had created. Worried for his own life, Erich removed captions from his artwork and cut the images up into small pieces. Elsa, however, wanting to save the precious fragments, hid them under the floorboards of her barracks.

■ After they were liberated in 1945, Elsa retrieved the hidden pieces of her husband’s paintings and sketches, and the couple began restoring them in Czechoslovakia. Erich also began to produce new versions of those paintings that had been lost or destroyed.

After emigrating to Israel in 1949 with their two children, Mira and Rami, Erich continued to re-visit his original artwork

and memories of his time in Theresienstadt, leading to his ultimate

project in the 1970s where he completely re-created the original scenes in detailed, brightly painted large watercolors “so that

every survivor was able to see and understand their meanings.”

This exhibition at Illinois Holocaust Museum displays both the fragments that

survived the Holocaust as well as the newer pieces, bringing to life an artist’s need to create and a survivor’s need to

record.

Reflection Questions: Why do you think Erich wanted to re-visit and re-create

the artwork that he started in Theresienstadt? What do you think that experience was like for him?

Answers will vary, but an example: Many years passed before Erich decided to revisit his work from Theresienstadt. Revisiting and recreating his work from that time helped him process and digest what happened to him and so many others during this time, and I think he felt a duty to those who survived and those who didn’t to share his work that showed

what life was really like during the Holocaust in Theresienstadt. I think it was probably an emotional experience for him, but also perhaps therapeutic and

rewarding to be creating a record of this time to share with the broader world.

Reflection Questions: Why do you think Erich wanted to re-visit and re-

create the artwork that he started in Theresienstadt?

What do you think that experience was like for him?

Erich Lichtblau-

Leskly

Next, create a character chart of

Erich. Pick at least four details that you learned about Erich that you

think are important to his

story. You can use the

example provided here or create

your own.

Answers will vary, but here is an

example.Access to art

materials through job

Risked his life to create his artwork

to show what life was like

Wife made a risky choice to save his

art

Painting was a means of resistance

for him

Theresienstadt

■ Established by the Nazis on November 24, 1941 in the military town of Terezín in Northwestern Czechoslovakia, Theresienstadt is considered to be both a ghetto and a concentration camp. As in a ghetto, day to day operations were run by a Jewish Council, and the prisoners wore civilian clothing, held cultural events, and were issued currency. However, the prisoners were forced to perform hard labor and lived in horrid conditions that were designed to accelerate their death.

What is a ghetto?In the context of the Holocaust, a ghetto is a section of a city where all Jews from

the surrounding areas were forced to reside, usually with overcrowding,

starvation, and unhygienic conditions.

What is a concentration camp?Immediately upon their assumption of power on January 30, 1933, the Nazis established concentration camps for the imprisonment of all “enemies of their regime: actual

and potential political opponents (e.g., communists, socialists, monarchists), Jehovah’s Witnesses, gypsies, homosexuals, and other “asocials.” Beginning in 1938, Jews were targeted for internment solely because they

were Jews. Before then, only Jews who fit one of the earlier categories were interned in camps. The first three concentration camps established were Dachau,

Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen.

■ Theresienstadt played a critical role in the Nazi Government’s deceptive propaganda. Nazi documentation often referred to deportation of Jews to the East as “resettlement” for labor.

■ Since it seemed unlikely that elderly people were going to do hard physical labor at camps, the Nazis presented Theresienstadt as a model “settlement” or “spa” town where certain German, Austrian, and Czech Jews who were elderly, disabled, WWI veterans, artists, celebrities, or “privileged” were sent as an alternative to forced labor in the East.

■ However, the harsh reality was that Theresienstadt was a holding pen for people who were then sent to killing centers in Nazi-occupied eastern Europe such as Auschwitz, Majdanek, and Treblinka.

■ Despite the dangerous and inhumane living conditions, cultural activities flourished at Theresienstadt, both because of its unique function and the large percentage of Jewish artists, intellectuals, and other prominent members of society imprisoned there. Religious practice, education, music, theatre, drawing, and painting were all tolerated to an extent by the Nazi guards.

■ While these artistic pursuits were in stark contrast to the daily struggle to survive, they represented a means for prisoners to cope with and demonstrate resistance to the situation they were forced into, as well as channel their hope for a better future. The art that emerged from Theresienstadt often depicted the conditions and daily life of the camp, such as the work of Erich Lichtblau-Leskly.

Look Closely!

We are going to see a series of images in the next few slides with one or two questions that are designed to make you look closely at the artwork.

Please write your answers to the questions in your journal.

1. What do you see in this

image? An old woman, a young

woman, barracks, clothes hanging

2. What words or phrases

can you use to describe this

image? Bartering, eating, survival,

minimal resources, disparity

Answers will vary, but here are

examples.

3. How would you describe the lines in this artwork?

The shapes? The colors? Sharp lines in Stars

of David; bright colors, dreamy feeling; whimsical shapes

4. What feeling or emotion do you

get from this artwork? What about the work

makes you say or feel that? Reminds me of

dreaming, feels whimsical with Easter Bunny and Saint Nicholas;

otherworldly

Answers will vary, but here are examples.

5. What is the first thing you notice in

this image? Why does it stand out to you?

Huge, disproportionate blue legs in the front; size draws your eyes

to them.

6. What do you think the artist wanted to communicate with

this piece? What do you see in the artwork

that suggests that? Feelings of being overpowered

and intimidated by big blue legs; confusion/fear in eyes of

onlookers in window; vulnerable position of woman washing

Answers will vary, but here are examples.

7. What do you think the most

important part of this artwork is? Why? Face – feeling of

anxiety emoting from gesture/expression.

8. What words, phrases, and ideas come to mind when you

look at this image? Anxiety, fear, confusion,

overwhelming

Answers will vary, but here are examples.

Inside the ArtworkImagine that you are inside this image. In a journal entry, answer the following questions:■ What kind of space are you

in? Tight, cramped, messy sleeping space

■ What elements are in the image that make you say that? Clothes strewn about, beds lined up, man in pajamas

■ How does it feel inside the space? Tight and cramped

■ What is the setting and time period? Barracks in Theresienstadt, 1940s

■ Who else is inside this scene? Doctor in white coat, man on floor with suitcase, man in pajamas going to bed, other people walking

Answers will vary, but here are examples.

What is next? Continue the story!

Look at the image closely. Now, it’s your turn to be the author! What happens to this character next?

Draw the next scene that would come after this using any art materials you have at home.

Optional extension: write a short story that continues this scene.

Answers will vary.

What’s in a title?The title of this artwork

is Competitors for Potatoes.

■ What does the title mean to you when looking at this image? Woman is trying to get the food on the ground for herself before rats get to it.

■ What is another title you would give this painting? Answers will vary.

Answers will vary, but here are examples.

DRAW YOUR

REACTION!Look at this image

closely. Draw a response to this

artwork using any materials that you

have at home.

Answers will vary.

■ The artist, Erich, includes captions in all of his artworks that sometimes poke fun at what is happening in the image or allows him to share his own thoughts about the scene.

■ Looking at this image, add your own caption.

Answers will vary.

Picture Titles and Caption TranslationsTitle: A Cardigan for Half a Loaf of BreadCaption: “a cardigan for half a loaf of bread”

Title: Mischlinge Dream About Saint Nicholas and the Easter BunnyCaption: “Dream of Saint Nicholas and the Easter Bunny by children of mixed marriages/dear Mr. Easter Bunny, going to Theresienstadt? Only with the star, or don’t forget the yellow star”

Title: House Arrest for the Old and InfirmCaption: “A ‘happy’ ghetto with ‘young’ people on the streets / shown to the gentlemen of the Red Cross; house arrest for the old and infirm; cleaning detail”

Title: Transport WorriesCaption: “Enrolled in the transport to the East, only one hour before departure”

Title: My First Night in the Ghetto: OvercrowdedCaption: “Overcrowded; You lack a certain vitamin P – (protection, patronage( from the Economic department; with 41 degree fever”

Title: Smuggling Flowers into the GhettoCaption: “working in agriculture; smuggling (under her coat) forbidden greens into the ghetto”

Picture Titles and Caption Translations, con.

Title: Competitors for PotatoesCaption: “competitors; only ashes”

Title: A Farewell: “Until We Meet in the Mass Grave”Caption: “a farewell ‘until we meet in the mass grave’”

Title: Hambo, the Pop-Hit SingerCaption: “Hambo came with the Danish transport to the Ghetto; He sang a song: I am dying, I am dying, trala lala, trala lala”

To see all of our virtual resources for educators go to:

https://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/virtual-educator-resources/