Object numberM2018/023:001
DescriptionPen ink drawing, created by Joseph (Jo) Adolf Spier in Terezin, 1943. Signed J. Spier. It depicts the Terezin coat of arms with two figures aside; they appear exhausted, carrying belongings and whilst they are faceless, the figure on the right wears the identifying Star of David. The item was donated by Sally Glass; her husband John Glass was given the work by the artist in Theresienstadt.
Jo Spier was one of many artists working from within the walls of the Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in German occupied Czechoslovakia. Put to work in the Werkstatte fur Kunstgewerbe und Gebrauchsmalerei (Workshop for Arts and Crafts and Utility Painting), he was forced to produce propaganda drawings of Theresienstadt and created the artwork for the commemorative album ‘Bilder aus Theresienstadt (Images from Theresienstadt)’, presented as souvenir to Nazi leaders. When the Red Cross made their official visit to the camp in 1944, Spier was touted as a representative of Dutch Jewry. His artistic talents were also used in the 1944 propaganda film ‘The Fuhrer Gives the Jews a City.’ Throughout this period he and his contemporaries were utilising the art supplies at their disposal to create realistic and clandestine depictions of life inside Terezin. Work produced by Jo Spier, as well as Leo Haas, Helga Weissova Hoskova, Fritz Taussig, known as Fritta, Karel Fleischmann and Frantisek Petr Kien, depict the true and concealed nature of life within the camp.
Spier was born on 26 June 1900, in Zutphen, Netherlands, to a Jewish couple; the oldest of three boys. In 1924, he began working for the newspaper De Telegraaf as an artist and illustrator and married Albertine Sophie Vane Raalte in 1925; they had three children. In 1940, he was fired for being Jewish and in 1943, he was arrested and sent to Westerbork for producing a satirical cartoon of Hitler. In the same year, he and his family were sent to Terezin. Post war, they migrated to the U.S and settled in New York. Joseph Spier died in May 1978.
Jo Spier was one of many artists working from within the walls of the Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in German occupied Czechoslovakia. Put to work in the Werkstatte fur Kunstgewerbe und Gebrauchsmalerei (Workshop for Arts and Crafts and Utility Painting), he was forced to produce propaganda drawings of Theresienstadt and created the artwork for the commemorative album ‘Bilder aus Theresienstadt (Images from Theresienstadt)’, presented as souvenir to Nazi leaders. When the Red Cross made their official visit to the camp in 1944, Spier was touted as a representative of Dutch Jewry. His artistic talents were also used in the 1944 propaganda film ‘The Fuhrer Gives the Jews a City.’ Throughout this period he and his contemporaries were utilising the art supplies at their disposal to create realistic and clandestine depictions of life inside Terezin. Work produced by Jo Spier, as well as Leo Haas, Helga Weissova Hoskova, Fritz Taussig, known as Fritta, Karel Fleischmann and Frantisek Petr Kien, depict the true and concealed nature of life within the camp.
Spier was born on 26 June 1900, in Zutphen, Netherlands, to a Jewish couple; the oldest of three boys. In 1924, he began working for the newspaper De Telegraaf as an artist and illustrator and married Albertine Sophie Vane Raalte in 1925; they had three children. In 1940, he was fired for being Jewish and in 1943, he was arrested and sent to Westerbork for producing a satirical cartoon of Hitler. In the same year, he and his family were sent to Terezin. Post war, they migrated to the U.S and settled in New York. Joseph Spier died in May 1978.
Production placeTheresienstadt ghetto
Production date 1943 - 1943
Subjectholocaust art, Terezin, Czech Republic, propaganda, amidah, art
Object namedrawings
Dimensions
- width: 108.00 mm
height: 114.00 mm
Language
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Sally Glass