Imprisoned: Drawings from Nazi Concentration Camps

by Arturo Benvenuti (Compiler), Primo Levi (Foreword)

In September 1979, at age fifty-six, writer and artist Arturo Benvenuti fueled up his motor home and set forth on what he knew would be an emotional journey. His plan—his own Viae Crucis —was to meet with as many former prisoners of Nazi-fascist concentration camps as he could. He wanted not only to learn their stories, but to learn from their stories.

He met with dozens of survivors from Auschwitz, Terezín, Mauthausen-Gusen, Buchenwald, Dachau, Gonars, Monigo, Renicci, Banjica, Ravensbrück, Jasenovac, Belsen, and Gurs. Many of these men and women shared their memories with Benvenuti along with artwork they’d created during their internment with pencil, ink, and charcoal.

After four decades of research, Benvenuti presented these original black-and-white pieces in Imprisoned. This stunning collection provides visuals that oftentimes even the most eloquent words and sentences cannot convey.

In his foreword, chemist, writer, and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi highlighted the importance of these reproductions, stating, “some have the immediate power of art; all have the raw power of the eye that has seen and that transmits its indignation.”

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Holocaust, Art, World War II

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 22, 2015

Reviews

[Loren Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of raw emotion, this book proves that a picture really is worth a thousand words. Some of these drawings are absolutely gut wrenching, some done so vividly and with so much talent that it’s not hard to imagine the image the person was trying to convey when they drew it inside their concentration camp. Books like this are rare and that I came across is was a blessing. I’m not a visual arts person, but you don’t need to be to both understand and appreciate this. With an introduction by the late great Primo Levi and a long exposition explaining the work, theory, motives etc that went into the book and that are behind the works, I think everyone should read this book at least once. It’ll only take a couple of hours - more if you really want to take the time to soak in each etching and the braveness behind them - but it’ll be completely worth it. I got teary several times, especially when I saw the birth dates of the people who drew the pictures - so many so young. Such atrocities. A beautiful book, put together so wonderfully. A masterpiece.

[Syed Shahrom Wafa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surely, one graphic can tell much more rather than a thousand words.

The reading experience just like with the book A Cambodian Prison Portrait. One Year in the Khmer Rouge's S-21 by Vann Nath, who happened to be the victims during the Pol Pots' Khmer Rouge communist era in Cambodia decades ago.

In this case, the whole book comprises of graphics that had been produced by various ex-concentration camp prisoners while they're inside during the Hitler's ethnic cleansing era. It can be considered as a collection of testimonies from the victim themselves too, whose sadly some of them can't get out alive when Berlin got liberated. Surely it is a sad & a compelling collections of art here in this book.

From this collective graphics, you can see that the suffering & torturing methods used by that fascist regime more or less the same for all of the prisoners in their concentration camps throughout Europe. But the most brutal & sadist one surely by the usage of gas chambers & cremation oven to get rid of the victims. Left them starving to dead also a normal ways back then.

The author's main objectives by producing this book surely have been met by the readers once they can get a hand on this book & finished it. It is important to teach the latter generations about the bad & ugly side of war, particularly when it comes from the fascist & racist agenda.

But sadly, the same torturing news by the authorities will never end isn't it? Still many people from the Uyghur ethnic been tortured in China nowadays because of their Muslim belief. In Syria, in Guantanamo Prison in Cuba, in India to be name a few also.

The most sad things that is still happening until today is in Palestine. The local peoples there been attacked day by day, trapped in their own big prison called country, just to be executed solely for their land. And can you tell me when it starts to happen & who the main culprit is?

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing and overwhelming. How can anyone treat another human the way these poor people were tortured and starved and killed? All need to read this, so it NEVER happens again. 5, important and necessary, stars.

[mad mags · Rating 5 out of 5]

#Resist

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review from the publisher, as well as an electronic ARC on Edelweiss.)

Humanity continues to kill, to massacre, to persecute, with increased ruthlessness. Before eyes that are increasingly indifferent, passive. When not complicit. There's no pity for the elderly, for women, for children. There's no pity for anyone anymore. Man is wolf to man, today as much as - and more than - yesterday.

The older generations seem to have learned very little; the new ones don't seem to want to learn any more. Wars continue to sow slaughter. Behind the barbed wire of new concentration camps, it has gone one; humanity has gone on being suppressed.

Most of all, this book aims to be - attempts to be - a contribution to the just "revolt" on behalf of those who feel like they can't, in spite of everything, resign themselves to a monstrous, terrifying reality. Those who believe they must still and always "resist."

- Arturo Benvenuti, "Without Words"

Born in 1923, Arturo Benvenuti - poet, painter, researcher, accountant, and banker - was just a young man during World War II. Yet his lack of civil engagement haunted him for decades, and the feelings of guilt and powerlessness - reflected in his poetry - eventually proved the impetus for the KZ Project.

In September of 1979, at the age of fifty-six, Arturo and his wife Marucci loaded up their camper and began what would become a lifelong journey: traveling throughout Europe, visiting former Nazi concentration camps (including Auschwitz, Terezín, Mauthausen, and Buchenwald), and meeting with as many survivors and veterans as he could. He also combed through local history museums, public libraries, and public archives, trying to piece together "visual testimonies" of the camps.

From this, KZ: Drawings from the Nazi-Fascist Concentration Camps was born. (KZ is the abbreviation for Konzentrationslager, which is German for "concentration camp.") Originally published in April 1983 with a not-profit edition, the 276-page book included as many black-and-white photos of drawings created by survivors of Auschwitz, Terezín, Mauthausen-Gusen, Buchenwald, Dachau, Gonars, Monigo, Renicci, Banjica, Ravensbrück, Jasenovac, Belsen, and Gurs - as well as a few pieces of artwork contributed by veterans who helped liberate the camps.

Nearly thirty-five years later, Skyhorse Publishing has released a new and (slightly) expanded edition. While the artwork remains the same, the 2017 edition includes several poems written by Benvenuti (which he chose to omit from the original edition, in lieu of letting the images speak for themselves). In addition to the original introduction written by Italian Jewish chemist and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi (several years before his death in 1987), the book contains new essays by Roberto Costella ("KZ: A Resounding Echo") and Giampietro Fattorello ("KZ: To Future Memory").

It's difficult to understate the raw emotional power of the images captured within these pages. Words fail me, which is kind of the point of this book, no?

The collection consists of 276 drawings rendered in pencil, ink, and charcoal, from 98 different artists. (I counted.) Some of the images take up most of a page or a full spread, while others are grouped two to a page.



Whereas some survivors are represented with just a single image, others have small collections. The style and technical know-how seems to run the gamut; while some artists look to be amateurs, others are obviously quite skilled.





There are some really lovely drawings here - including portraits and landscapes - as well as a few more abstract pieces.





Much to my surprise, I even spotted several drawings done by children.



(If these don't shatter your heart into a million pieces, you probably don't have a heart to begin with.)

One even looks disquietingly like the sort of artwork a parent might hang on their fridge or cubicle wall.



The overall design of the book is very minimal, in keeping with the original. Each image is accompanied by just two or three lines of text: the artist's name; her or his date and place of birth; the drawing's title; the date(s) it was created; and the name of the camp in which the artist was imprisoned. Benvenuti's poetry is paired with images that either reflect the theme, or were birthed in the same camp. For example, "The Children of Terezín" is paired with a drawing of a butterfly done by Doris Weiserová (born in Poland in 1932), while "The Stone Stairs" appears alongside "Work in the Rock Quarry" - both depictions of the rock quarry at Mauthausen.

As a result, the reader's attention is focused squarely on the drawings. Yet with so little information available about the artists, I found myself aching to know more about them: How old were they when they were sent to the camp? When they escaped? Did they continue creating art later in life? Were they artists before their captivity? How were they able to keep their drawings secret and safe, to smuggle them out into the world? Which of these artists were veterans, as opposed to prisoners?

The work of one artist in particular - Russian-born Sinowi Tolkacev, imprisoned in Oswiecim Concentration Camp in Poland - appears with official-looking stamps or documentation.



I would love to know the story behind these images. While the layout of the book certainly makes sense, the dearth of text left me wanting more. A brief bio about each of the artists, placed at the back of the book, would be great (although I certainly understand the difficulties inherent in this).

Still, this is an essential collection for historians and artists alike - as well as anyone who's interested in viewing the Holocaust through a different lens. (It's not often I see the role of art covered in books on the Holocaust, whether nonfiction or otherwise.)

In his introduction, Benvenuti laments that we've learned little from our past mistakes; in light of tragedies like the Rwandan genocide, the destruction of Aleppo, and the treatment of refugees by developed nations, to name a few, the slogan "Never Again" feels like just that: empty words, meaningless rhetoric. And with Brexit and the election of Drumpf - a man who openly courted the white supremacist vote and openly bragged about sexually assaulting women - many Holocaust survivors see the past repeating itself. Shamelessly, nakedly, terrifyingly.



More and more, I find myself ending reviews with this one refrain: this is a book we need now more than ever. And it is. The power of art - to foster empathy and compassion, inspire bravery and rebellion - cannot be underestimated. And these artists have so much to show us. It's up to us to listen, to learn - and to do better.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2017/01/18/...

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Per quest'anno ho voluto celebrare il giorno della memoria con qualcosa di diverso, L'idea che esistano libri e memoriali sull'olocausto è quasi scontata: se c'è un sopravvissuto c'è qualcuno che può raccontare una storia. Ma non ho mai pensato ad altre forme d'arti, al fatto che prigionieri comuni, senza nemmeno il necessario per non morire di fame, potessero ricercare qualcosa di così superfluo come un pezzo di carta e una matita. Per fortuna Arturo Benvenuti è più sensibile della sottoscritta, e nel 1979 si è caricato la moglie in macchina e sono partiti per visitare i luoghi della follia nazista. Non solo i campi di concentramento, ma anche varie città auropee, alla ricerca di testimonianze grafiche che ha poi raccolto in questo volume. Da quel che leggo nella postfazione la prima edizione conteneva solo disegni e la prefazione di Primo Levi, che ha avuto con Benvenuti un forte rapporto epistolare. Col passare delle edizioni però si è sentito il bisogno di aggiungere qualcosa. Alcune poesie del Benvenuto stesso, per esempio, la sua biografia e la biografia dello stesso libro. Non saltate la postfazione, è parte integrante del libro.

[dani]

I feel like it won't be proper to rate this.

It's completely crazy to see these depictions from Nazi concentration camps. How can a person be so cruel and numb to seeing this everyday? It astounds me that the people in these camps were able to keep going. Though when I came across the drawing of the elderly at the camp, I couldn't. How horrible it must be to live the last few years of your life being treated like filth and to not know how it will turn out for your friends and family. When you pass away, for all you know it may never end.

[Ionut Iamandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arturo Benvenuti a adunat timp de patru decenii peste două sute cincizeci de desene făcute în lagărele de exterminare naziste. Marea lor majoritate sunt ale deţinuţilor, doar câteva ale militarilor aliaţi care au ajuns să vadă şi ei grozăviile când au eliberat lagărele. Toate vorbesc fără cuvinte despre ceea ce s-a întâmplat acolo. Nu mai e nevoie să le vorbeşti şi tu negaţioniştilor. Le arăţi – şi atât. Sunt indescriptibile, sunt pe mintea iraţionalului.

Mai mult: https://bit.ly/3gXNjDH

[Annie Capek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profound sadness...

..looking at the drawings and reading the book. I cannot say any more.I am very angry and sad and sickened that the drawings reflected the horrible cruelty of the Nazis .They won't escape their inhumanity.They are long gone now,but there has to be a place in the afterlife where they are imprisioned , and hopefully being tortured on a never-ending path.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read but immensely impactful. Mr. Benvenuti gathered together a considerable collection of drawings from survivors of the concentration camps and/or their families. The style and quality of the drawings certainly varies but as a whole are a tremendous reminder of the atrocities that occurred. There are also a few poems written by Benvenuti and an explanation of why he decided to set out on this journey. The very fact that the numerous artists were able to find supplies and then maintain the safety of the drawings is extraordinary.

[Sandy Korom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing art from the Holocaust

[Jay Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

There really aren't words.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

5- The minus is for the recently added afterwards. I think the images speak more powerfully for themselves without so much explanation.

[Veeral · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haunting. An important collection of history that should be seen by everyone.

[Cooper Renner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking artworks. (I skipped most of the afterword essays—the Art is what I wanted to see.)

[Anton Hychka · Rating 4 out of 5]

drawings are engraved in clear white lines of closed eyes, and do not disappear

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was heartbreaking, and there was no way it could be anything but.

I've read a few books on the concentration camps, and visited one, on a trip to Germany. I've studied it in school.

Yet this book, made it feel real, in a whole new way.

Some of those images will haunt me, for a very long time.