Logo: Photographer, Mixed Media Artist Helene Fischman

Art from the Ashes

Excerpted from Diller Fund Grant, Osher-Marin Jewish Community Center: "As first-hand memories of the Holocaust recede into history and the generation most intimately affected by its horrors grows older, new generations struggle for a poignant way of evoking the memory of the lost world of European Jewish life.  Toward this end, painter and photographer Helene Fischman, a highly respected Bay area artist and educator, created "artist residencies" for herself in former Nazi territory.  In Terezín/Terezinstadt, Czech Republic, she created an artist studio in a crumbling, former Nazi Barrack.  In Oświęcim/Auschwitz, Poland, she spent two months painting in an old storage room formerly used for munitions at the Auschwitz Jewish Center/Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot, the town's only surviving synagogue...Click here for complete statement

Articles & Publicity:
• Special Collections, Golda Meir Library, University of Wisconsin Library, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 2, 2014
Alexandra Wall, "Bay area artist hopes to turn horror into hope at Auschwitz," Northern California Jewish Bulletin, June 4, 2004.
Alexandra Wall, " 'Art from the Ashes,' opens window on death camps," Northern California Jewish Bulletin, April 14, 2006.

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Downcellar
Down Cellar:
Shimshon Klieger's family home

Oświęcim, Poland
2004

 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Five-Thirty
Five-Thirty:
Shimshon Klieger's family home

Oświęcim, Poland
2004

 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Living Room
Living Room:
Shimshon Klieger's family home

Oświęcim, Poland
2004


Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Hallway
Hallway:
Shimshon Klieger's family home

Oświęcim, Poland
2004


 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Staircase
Staircase:
Shimshon Klieger's family home

Oświęcim, Poland
2004

 

 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Children's Target
Children's Target
Terezín, Czech Republic
2003



Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Street Sign
Ohře River:
Terezín street sign

Terezín, Czech Republic
2003


 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Descending a Staircase
Descending A Staircase:
Self-Portrait in former Nazi barrack (After Marcel Duchamp, "Nude Descending a Staircase")

Terezín, Czech Republic
2003

 

 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Honey
Honey:
Oświęcim Farmer's Market

Oświęcim, Poland
2004

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Snail on tombstone
Renewal: Snail eating moss on tombstone
in reconstructed Jewish cemetary

Oświęcim, Poland
2004






 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Jacob's Ladder
Jacob's Ladder: View down pool ladder, reflecting rain water
Terezín, Czech Republic
2003

 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Something Broken
Something Broken:
Rubble from 2002 floods

Terezín, Czech Republic
2003



Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - On Your Mark
On Your Mark:
Diving block, prison swimming pool

Terezín, Czech Republic
2003

 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Old Spokes
Old Spokes: Broken bicycles in former munitions warehouse
Terezín, Czech Republic
2003

 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Leader of the Pack
Leader of the Pack:
Street kitty in Terezín

Terezín, Czech Republic
2003


Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Sinking
Sinking:
Former prison bathroom

Terezín, Czech Republic
2003

 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Winter
Winter in Oświęcim:
The Lost Shabbos

Oświęcim, Poland
2004

 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Spring
Spring in Oświęcim:
The Lost Shabbos

Oświęcim, Poland
2004


Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Summer
Summer in Oświęcim:
The Lost Shabbos

Oświęcim, Poland
2004



 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Fall
Fall in Oświęcim:
The Lost Shabbos

Oświęcim, Poland
2004


 

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Remember
Remember I Am With You
Terezín, Czech Republic
2003


Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Not a Prison Camp
This is Not a Prison Camp
Terezín, Czech Republic
2003

Thumbnail: Art From The Ashes - Eternal Light
Ner Tamid (Eternal Light)
Terezín, Czech Republic
2003