Janowska Lwow concentration camp (hanging of Judenrat)
Object numberM2013/043:008
TitleJanowska Lwow concentration camp (hanging of Judenrat)
Creator Mr. Adam Szus
DescriptionDrawing in pen, ink and pencil by Adam Szus, depicts the hanging of three concentration camp prisoners with Nazi officers standing by. The artwork is captioned as taking place at Janowska concentration camp, Lwow, Poland.
One of 13 drawings made in 1992 to illustrate his testimony titled, 'Not to Forgive "Remember....Don't Forget" The Biography of Abraham Leib Szus at the time of the Second World War.’
The drawings reflect his experiences throughout the war and the suffering that he witnessed and endured.
Avraham Leib Szus (Adam) was born in 1917 in Brzostek, a village in the Carpathian Mountains, Poland, the youngest of 11 children. Four died before the war; Adam was the only survivor of his family. He studied at the yeshiva, and become a silversmith. In 1942, aged 25, he was sent to the Lemberg-Janowska concentration camp where he laboured as a metal worker. He spent the next three years in concentration and labour camps. He was forced to bury fellow prisoners; to break up Jewish cemeteries to turn them into mass graves. He found and buried his own family. He joined the partisans in 1944 under a false name and later joined up with Russian scouts. After liberation, he returned to Brzostek where only a handful of Jews remained alive. Adam married in 1946 and in 1959 he and his wife and two children immigrated to Australia. In 1978 he was a witness at the trial of Friedrich Heines in Saarbruken, an SS Officer whom he had seen commit atrocities in Janowska concentration camp. “His sadistic murders cannot be described in words.” Adam was awarded a medal, signed by the Polish President Lech Walesa, for fighting against the German occupying forces.
One of 13 drawings made in 1992 to illustrate his testimony titled, 'Not to Forgive "Remember....Don't Forget" The Biography of Abraham Leib Szus at the time of the Second World War.’
The drawings reflect his experiences throughout the war and the suffering that he witnessed and endured.
Avraham Leib Szus (Adam) was born in 1917 in Brzostek, a village in the Carpathian Mountains, Poland, the youngest of 11 children. Four died before the war; Adam was the only survivor of his family. He studied at the yeshiva, and become a silversmith. In 1942, aged 25, he was sent to the Lemberg-Janowska concentration camp where he laboured as a metal worker. He spent the next three years in concentration and labour camps. He was forced to bury fellow prisoners; to break up Jewish cemeteries to turn them into mass graves. He found and buried his own family. He joined the partisans in 1944 under a false name and later joined up with Russian scouts. After liberation, he returned to Brzostek where only a handful of Jews remained alive. Adam married in 1946 and in 1959 he and his wife and two children immigrated to Australia. In 1978 he was a witness at the trial of Friedrich Heines in Saarbruken, an SS Officer whom he had seen commit atrocities in Janowska concentration camp. “His sadistic murders cannot be described in words.” Adam was awarded a medal, signed by the Polish President Lech Walesa, for fighting against the German occupying forces.
Subjectart, Post-Holocaust Art, concentration camps, Hanging, death, executions and killings, torture
Object namedrawings
Dimensions
- height: 209.00 mm
width: 296.00 mm
Language
- English
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Adam and Sonia Szus