Saratoga Jewish Cultural Festival. 7:00 p.m. David Friedmann – Lost and Found Portraits of the Prague Jewish Community 1940-1941

David Friedmann,1893-1980, was an accomplished painter, renowned for his portraits drawn from life, and a leading Berlin press artist of the 1920’s. As a refugee in Prague, he produced portraits of the Jewish Community during the Nazi occupation. Numerous subjects were prominent Zionists, who became heads of Theresienstadt Ghetto and murdered in Auschwitz. One of the starkest traumas of the Holocaust-people not only lost their lives, but also traces of their existence. The portraits were evidence of a dynamic Jewish community that had been destroyed. David Friedmann’s daughter, Miriam Friedman Morris, will discuss finding her father’s lost portraits and the surprising connections she made piecing together the story. As a Holocaust survivor, Friedmann fought anti-Semitism and racial hatred by painting the horrors he witnessed in the Lodz Ghetto and Auschwitz to show to the world. His works are part of museum collections throughout the world, including the United States Holocaust Museum and are on view in the permanent display at The Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Admission: $5 per person. Light refreshments to follow.
If attending in person, proof of vaccination is required.

RSVP: Call the Office or contact the President via the Contact Us page.