translation from German http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/kunst-im-kz-bilder-gegen-das-grauen.2156.de.html?dram:article_id=300361
Historian talks about the documentary "Because I was an artist '
Art against terror: Discovery
of prisoner-drawings
in the former concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora
Some concentration camp prisoners tried to escape the horror, by drawing. The documentary "Because I was an artist" explores this unknown chapter in the history of art. The historian Christiane Heß has watched it.
The documentary "Because I was an artist" is about little-known works of art that originated in the concentration camps during the Second World War. The artists had to make their works secretly, the conditions were difficult, said the historian Christiane Heß to Deutschlandradio Kultur,, who did a doctorate on the subject.
"In the camp itself, it is important that the artist had the material available." This depended on "in which work commando they worked, if they had access to paper, pencil residues, cinders or the like". Many drawings were created in the barracks, "in the corners, in the beds where they sat," said Hess. Also in the infirmary some of the detainees could paint.
Some concentration camp prisoners tried to escape the horror, by drawing. The documentary "Because I was an artist" explores this unknown chapter in the history of art. The historian Christiane Heß has watched it.
The documentary "Because I was an artist" is about little-known works of art that originated in the concentration camps during the Second World War. The artists had to make their works secretly, the conditions were difficult, said the historian Christiane Heß to Deutschlandradio Kultur,, who did a doctorate on the subject.
"In the camp itself, it is important that the artist had the material available." This depended on "in which work commando they worked, if they had access to paper, pencil residues, cinders or the like". Many drawings were created in the barracks, "in the corners, in the beds where they sat," said Hess. Also in the infirmary some of the detainees could paint.
30,000 works of art have been created in secret
Up to 30,000 works of art were created in the concentration camps and ghettos. The works told impressively of "how prisoners perceived their everyday camp life and their fellow prisoners". They were also "proofs for social relations in the camp".
The film documenting not only the historical locations and art, but also the approach of the filmmaker Christophe Cognet on the subject, said Heß. "I found this very remarkable in the film: that he was very, very close walking with the camera in these pictures so you can approach incredibly close to the strokes and the lines of the paper."
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