Witness : Images of Auschwitz [Hardcover]

David Olere (Author), Alexandre Oler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 094103769X | ISBN-13: 978-0941037693 | Publication Date: September 1998

This book is a legacy of enormous historical importance. At a time when many are actually denying the existence of the Holocaust, we have decided to publish for the first time this important visual eye witness evidence. David Olère, the only artist to survive imprisonment in Auschwitz, drew upon his own experiences as a laborer in the gas chambers, furnaces, and examination rooms to illustrate what actually went on within the crematorium and other places that no photographer entered until after the war. The drawings are accompanied by a moving text written by Olère’s son, based on his father’s experiences. This book will make you feel like an eye witness yourself. This work is published so that those who never experienced the Holocaust and all future generations may witness themselves, through Olère’s eyes, the terrible cruelty of which political systems with unchecked power are capable.

Some of the images in this book are very disturbing. We do not recommend it for children.

An estimated six million Jews were systematically exterminated by Hitler’s SS during World War II. This slaughter took place at several camps throughout Europe. Primary among these was Auschwitz II at Birkenau, Poland, where more than a million people were sent to the gas chambers—most of them Jews. The SS offered a few prisoners the chance to work in exchange for a little more time to live, but this usually was only a slower form of death. Only about one out of a hundred people deported to Auschwitz survived the war. One of the cruelest forms of forced labor was the corps of SonderKommando, prisoners who had to work in the crematoria. They were constantly driven to work faster to keep up with the intense schedule of slaughter. When they were too exhausted to satisfy their persecutors, they were sent into the gas chambers themselves. The typical life span of these unfortunates ranged from a few hours to a few weeks. Only a handful of SonderKommando survived the war.

One of these was David Olère, a Jewish artist who was born in Poland, but had emigrated to France. He was arrested in 1943 and managed to survive nearly two years at Auschwitz, primarily because the SS desired to make use of his artistic and linguistic skills.

While his wife and son hid out in France, Olère witnessed unbelievable sights never recorded by cameras: the rape and murder of young women; live babies being thrown into burning trenches; Jews, Christians, and Communists celebrating Christmas together at Auschwitz, a Catholic priest who elected to go to the gas chambers himself rather than abandon a young Jewish boy whose care had been charged to him; and worst of all, the horrendous work in Crematorium III.

As soon as he was liberated, Olère began to sketch scenes, portraits, and diagrams from memory. These constitute the only visual record of much of what went on at Auschwitz. His drawings were used by those charged with investigating the Holocaust and now hang in museums around the world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Witness: Images of Auschwitz is a haunting collection of illustrations and recollections that portray the horrors of that death-camp. David Olére, a survivor of the Auschwitz, was assigned as a laborer to the gas chambers and furnaces from 1943-1945, and saw the horrors that took place there. Stylistically, David Olére's work is fairly representational. In some ways, it is reminiscent of the drawing style of Pontormo; however, much of the work has an expressionistic edge to it. While not as emotionally seething (nor nearly as abstract) as the art of Munch and some of the other German expressionists , there is a quiet darkness here. And, like the expressionists, for Olére, pictorial form is inseparable from the pain and stress of experience-very appropriate for a subject as dark and disturbing as the Holocaust. While the content of the drawings and paintings are a firsthand account and documentation of Nazi atrocities, this work is beautifully executed and serves as a grim reminder of the genocide reigned upon the Jewish race. The images of Witness are accompanied by text that Olére's son, Alexander Olére, assembled based upon his father's memoirs. To be sure, the read is as compelling and memorable as the book's illustrations. -- From Independent Publisher

From the Publisher

"essential to understanding the Holocaust" —Elie Wiesel

"Stunning!" —Trevor Witcher, Gazelle Books

"I am speechless!" —Pnina Rosenberg, Curator, Ghetto Fighters’ House

"The read is as compelling and memorable as the book’s illustrations." —Independent Publisher

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: D & F Scott Pub Inc (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 094103769X
• ISBN-13: 978-0941037693
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #607,045 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Horrifically Honest, April 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Witness : Images of Auschwitz (Hardcover)

I first saw this book when I was visiting the Holocaust Museum (in Washington) and it was equally disturbing as all the displays/exhibits in the museum. The illustrator is a very talented artist, and the author of the text was very poetic. It's an extremely powerful piece of work, both terrifying and also touching. Specifically, I remember the pictures of the phases of the gas chamber, and the text entitled something like "How Many More?" which was a prayer. An incredible book, but only for mature audiences.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Witness: Images of Auschwitz" by D. Olere and A. Oler, May 17, 2002

By 

"doomtorepeat" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Witness : Images of Auschwitz (Hardcover)

This slim volume contains over forty drawings and paintings done by David Olere. He did these works from personal remembrances of his time at Auschwitz death camp. The text is written by his son, Alexandre, who was not at the camp, but hiding out with his mother.

Olere spent his time in the camp working in the crematorium. He would bring the bodies from the chambers and put them in the ovens. His story is not told as most stories are. His story is told through his pictures and his son's writing. Both are horrific to witness. "Witness" is an important word in this book. Through Olere's art, the reader witnesses what he witnessed. Through Oler's words, the reader becomes a witness. The father and son force the reader to look at the horror, and not turn away.

The images are not for the faint of heart, but the faint of heart should witness this book. Everyone should witness this book. Oler writes that his father died in his eighties but not of a disease. He died from a broken heart when university professors began to deny the Holocaust altogether.

"Witness: Images of Auschwitz" is a small, terrifying book. I suggest it to anyone who thinks we should "get past" the horrors of World War II, and the events of September 11, 2001.

Quote:
"I did not survive to rewrite the history
Of the Second World War
And explain how it came about and why.
I have no idea. I have no opinions.

I survived just to show you what it is like
Every day in the camp.

I say, "What it is like," not how it was.
To me it still is. I am in it.

Every morning I start all over again from
The Hell Train on.

Every night, I struggle for my next breath
Of fresh air."
--page 26

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My father new the author, December 10, 2006

By 

Maria T. Fontaine "Maria Fontaine" (Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Witness : Images of Auschwitz (Hardcover)

This book is so breath-taking, the art, the feelings portrayed through Mr. Olere's art is undescribable, you must own the book to get 1 % of the feelings being expressed.