ObjektnummerM1991/031:004
BeskrivelseColour tinted, black ink line drawing by Paul (Pinkus) Perkal, depicting the flogging of a concentration camp inmate. Three German officers are shown overseeing the flogging. According to Perkal's wife, Anne Perkal (the donor), her husband did the drawings (this and M1991/031:003) very soon after he was liberated from Dachau, probably in Munich where he spent some time after the war. The drawings were done from memory, based on events he had seen inside the camp.
Pinkus (Paul) Eli Perkal was born 27 July 1910 in a small town called Mszczonów near Warsaw, Poland. Eldest son in a family of eight children to Azrial and Esther, his early life was one of relative peace and simplicity. Raised in an orthodox household, his parents owned a large haberdashery store catering for weddings and funerals, offering a range of merchandise to the town.
He worked as an artist and living in Lodz, Poland. He married in 1939 (possibly to Chaja Grynberg) and had two children, a son and a daughter. During the invasion of Poland, Germany bombed large sections of Warsaw. Like many Polish men, Paul travelled to Warsaw after calls for an army recruitment drive. There Paul met with his two younger brothers, Adam (Issak) and Morris (Mosche). The recruitment plan was abandoned as the Germans soon occupied Warsaw. Together, the three brothers fled back to Mszczonów. A few kilometres from home, a peasant woman from the town informed them that their mother and youngest brother, Myer, had been burned alive following a bombing of a synagogue during Yom Kippur. Azrail and two of his remaining children had fled the remnants of their burnt-out home to live with the brother’s older sister, Feiga Hoffman, in Grojec. They walked to Grojec and were reunited with their family. Paul stayed briefly before returning to Lodz to his wife and child.
In early February 1940, Lodz ghetto was established, forcefully relocating over 160,000 Jews. Between Paul’s return to his family at the end of 1939 and 1941, the family appear to have been separated into two ghettos. His wife and child in Piotrków Trybunalski ghetto, living with Paul’s father and extended family. Paul stayed in Lodz. By 1941, he had no chance of escape as the ghetto was sealed on 30 April 1940.
By 1942, he was transported out of the ghetto. According to Paul’s post war account, his camp registration number was 127816 and he was incarcerated in four concentration camps; Majdenak, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and Dachau. He was a forced labourer and records he was physically beaten with one instance of more than 75 lashes at Auschwitz. He was lastly detained in Dachau from 17 November 1944 until he was liberated by American forces on 29 April 1945.
After the war he settled and started working for the Munich Municipality in the Jewish Community’s Arts & Culture department. He was reunited with his brother, Morris (who escaped to Soviet territories during the war) after Morris was informed of a Perkal in Munich by a German acquaintance. Now together, the brothers were later informed of brother, Adam’s, film career in Italy. The pair wrote to him via the Red Cross, discovering that they were the only three surviving members of their entire family.
Paul continued to live in Munich whilst applying for visas overseas. Eventually through an uncle in Australia, Paul and Morris were able to secure a permit and flew from Paris, arriving in Sydney on 29 July 1948. Upon their arrival, they were surprised to be greeted by their brother Adam.
On 5 June 1949, he married Anne Feller. The couple moved to Canterbury where Paul started a painting and decorating business. He continued to be involved in the arts, assisting with the Ashfield Art and Cultural Society. He painted a portrait of Jewish mayor, Alderman Lewis Herman, finishing it only a short time before his death. Paul passed away in 1983.
Pinkus (Paul) Eli Perkal was born 27 July 1910 in a small town called Mszczonów near Warsaw, Poland. Eldest son in a family of eight children to Azrial and Esther, his early life was one of relative peace and simplicity. Raised in an orthodox household, his parents owned a large haberdashery store catering for weddings and funerals, offering a range of merchandise to the town.
He worked as an artist and living in Lodz, Poland. He married in 1939 (possibly to Chaja Grynberg) and had two children, a son and a daughter. During the invasion of Poland, Germany bombed large sections of Warsaw. Like many Polish men, Paul travelled to Warsaw after calls for an army recruitment drive. There Paul met with his two younger brothers, Adam (Issak) and Morris (Mosche). The recruitment plan was abandoned as the Germans soon occupied Warsaw. Together, the three brothers fled back to Mszczonów. A few kilometres from home, a peasant woman from the town informed them that their mother and youngest brother, Myer, had been burned alive following a bombing of a synagogue during Yom Kippur. Azrail and two of his remaining children had fled the remnants of their burnt-out home to live with the brother’s older sister, Feiga Hoffman, in Grojec. They walked to Grojec and were reunited with their family. Paul stayed briefly before returning to Lodz to his wife and child.
In early February 1940, Lodz ghetto was established, forcefully relocating over 160,000 Jews. Between Paul’s return to his family at the end of 1939 and 1941, the family appear to have been separated into two ghettos. His wife and child in Piotrków Trybunalski ghetto, living with Paul’s father and extended family. Paul stayed in Lodz. By 1941, he had no chance of escape as the ghetto was sealed on 30 April 1940.
By 1942, he was transported out of the ghetto. According to Paul’s post war account, his camp registration number was 127816 and he was incarcerated in four concentration camps; Majdenak, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and Dachau. He was a forced labourer and records he was physically beaten with one instance of more than 75 lashes at Auschwitz. He was lastly detained in Dachau from 17 November 1944 until he was liberated by American forces on 29 April 1945.
After the war he settled and started working for the Munich Municipality in the Jewish Community’s Arts & Culture department. He was reunited with his brother, Morris (who escaped to Soviet territories during the war) after Morris was informed of a Perkal in Munich by a German acquaintance. Now together, the brothers were later informed of brother, Adam’s, film career in Italy. The pair wrote to him via the Red Cross, discovering that they were the only three surviving members of their entire family.
Paul continued to live in Munich whilst applying for visas overseas. Eventually through an uncle in Australia, Paul and Morris were able to secure a permit and flew from Paris, arriving in Sydney on 29 July 1948. Upon their arrival, they were surprised to be greeted by their brother Adam.
On 5 June 1949, he married Anne Feller. The couple moved to Canterbury where Paul started a painting and decorating business. He continued to be involved in the arts, assisting with the Ashfield Art and Cultural Society. He painted a portrait of Jewish mayor, Alderman Lewis Herman, finishing it only a short time before his death. Paul passed away in 1983.
ProduktionsstedMunich, Germany
Produktionsdato circa 1945
Objektnavndrawings
Materialepaper, watercolour , ink
Teknikdrawn
Mål
- whole width: 238.00 mm
height: 178.00 mm
Sprog
KreditrammeSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Anne Perkal