Skip to Main Content

Book Arts: Holocaust

Subject-specific lists of book arts materials available in Special Collections at the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library

Book arts remembering the Holocaust

Tatana Kellner. 71125, Fifty Years of Silence: Eva Kellner's Story.  Rosendale, NY: Women's Studio Workshop, 1992. NJ18 K301 A12 1992 (LC) Folio

Tatana Kellner. B 11226, Fifty Years of Silence: Eugene Kellner's Story.  Rosendale, NY: Women's Studio Workshop, 1992. NJ18 K301 A12 1992 (LC) Folio

These two works document the stories of Tatana Kellner’s parents, both Holocaust survivors.  The title refers to the length of time it took Kellner’s parents to be able to speak to her about their experiences.  Kellner asked them to write their stories for this project.  The original handwritten Czech is on one side, with Kellner’s English translation on the other.  Many of the photos are of the family.  The cast paper sculptures are made directly from her parents arms, and like theirs, still bear the marks of the tattoo.

Tatana Kellner was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and now resides in New York state.  She directs the Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, New York, a not-for-profit studio space that has been helping artists create books and prints for over 30 years. Kellner has an MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology and a BA from the University of Toledo.

Lukac, Jenni.  Kaddish. Rochester, NY: Visual Studies Workshop Press, 1995. N7433.4 L85 K34 1995 (LC)

This work investigates the personal history of seven Jewish families from Europe who have shared their experiences with Lukac.  Using family photographs and stills from home movies spanning approximately 1920 – 1945, Lukac has brought together a vast range of experiences.

Lukac has spent time in Lithuania, Portugal and other parts of Europe to study the history of Jews. She has created many artists’ books, collages, and video installations, which address both the political reasoning for and the personal memories of persecution against Jews in Europe in the 1930's and 40's.

Walter Feldman.  Lager Lieder. Providence, RI: Ziggurat Press, 1990. Z232 Z54 Z9 L34 1990 (LC) (LSF--Contact haasalsc@pantheon.yale.edu to request item)

This work is an illustrated collection of songs that were sung in concentration camps.  It is bound in striped cloth that evokes memories of the uniforms worn by camp prisoners.  The artist states in the colophon, “When I first saw the Lager Lieder I knew immediately that I would have to compose visual accompaniments for these powerful and frightening words.” 

Ekhah. Berkeley, CA: Bet Alfa, 1997. (Book of Lamentations) Z232 B48 Z9 B535 1997 (LC) Oversize

The images in this work are relief prints of wooden synagogues in Poland destroyed by the Nazis.  The prints are by Leonid Gorban.  The edition was printed by hand at the Officina Bodoni in Verona, Italy.

Roald Hoffmann. Memory Effects. Chicago: Calhoun Press, Columbia College, 1998. Z232 C14 Z9 H64 1998 (LC) 

This work is a fine printing of a poetry anthology by Roald Hoffman.  The poems address the poet’s memories of the Holocaust and other private reflections.  This edition was created at Calhoun Press which publishes fine, limited edition works by Midwest visual and literary artists.  When published, the Press was part of Columbia College’s Department of Art and Design, now called the Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts.  This book was designed by Marlene Lipinski with assistance from students.

Carol Rosen. The Holocaust Series.  New Jersey: C. Rosen, 1990. Arts Library has books 1, 4, 12, 17, 21.  TR685 R67 1990 (LC) Oversize

In these two works the artist has used the portfolio format so that each page of the book is a singular entity.  The pages can be read in the order laid out by the artist, or they can be viewed individually or in a different order.  Rosen mixes her photomontages of evocative and haunting images with poems and quotations about the Holocaust.  Rosen has dedicated each book to her parents “who took active roles in trying to save German refugees.”

Bernard Aldebert. Chemin de Croix en 50 Stations: De Compiegne a Gusen II: en passant par Buchenwald, Matuthausen, Gusen I.  [Paris?]: Librarie Artheme Fayard, [1946]. NJ18.AL3348 A12 1946 (LC) Oversize

This work is a memoir of Aldebert's ordeal starting in Compiegne in 1944 and ending in liberation from concentration camp Gusen II in 1945.  Each page spread has the story on the left and a black and white drawing on the right illustrating the written account.  The accounts and images include the horrors of transportation in cattle cars, medical inspection, and numerous forms of brutality inflicted by guards.

Touster, Saul (ed.). Beyond Words: A Holocaust History in Sixteen Woodcuts done in 1945 by Miklós Adler, a Hungarian Survivor. New York: American Jewish Historical Society, 2001. NJ18.Ad54 A12 2001 (LC) 

The artist, Adler, called his series of 16 images "The Sufferings."  He conceived of this means of expression to communicate about his experiences because he felt that words could not describe the horror.  This contemporary reproduction of the images includes a long historical introduction by the editor Saul Touster.

Fournier, Jacques.  Le 6 avril 1944. [Montréal] : Éditions Roselin, 1999. NJ18.F8415 A12 1999 (LC) Unit 10B Shelf 2

A photograph by Edward Hillel of a eery yet beautiful landscape is surrounded by reflective material containing the names and ages of 44 children deported on the 6th of April, 1944.  The cover for the box is the same gold as the stars Jews were forced to wear on their sleeves.

Davidson, Deborah. Voce. [Massachusetts] : D. Davidson, 1995. N7433.4 D377 V63 1995 (LC)+ Oversize

Handmade paper with abstract imagery.  The last page of the book says "Text by Deborah Davidson and 'found' text extracted from letters of Gemma Vitale Servadio written from the internment camp at Fossoli Di Carpi, Italy, Spring 1944."

Milman, Barbara.  In the Habitations of Death: Inspired by the Poems of Nelly Sachs.  NJ18.M654 A12 2006 (LC) Oversize

Austere black and wood woodcuts of holocaust imagery framed by excerpts from Sachs' poetry.  Cover paper is reminiscent of striped concentration camp uniforms.  Edition of 4.

Holocaust Memorial Berlin: Eisenman Architects. Text by Hanno Rauterberg; photo essay by Hélène Binet; photo impressions by Lukas Wassmann; translation, Ishbel Fiett. Baden, Switzerland: Lars Müller Publishers, 2005. NJ18.Ei853 R38 2005 (LC)+ Oversize Unit 2

Concrete covers give way to glossy photographs and diagrams of the memorial site.  Also included are two essays:  Hanno Rauterberg writes about the experience of being among the blocks and the function of memorials; Peter Eisenman discusses how the boundaries of architecture and sculpture have changed over history and his ideas on how to approach the problem of creating memorials in contemporary times. Eisenman’s essay is surrounded by a variety of diagrams of the entire site, emphasizing the abstract qualities of the design.  The photographs function as both a documentary about the place and an artist’s interpretation of the experience of being there.  The reader gets a sense of entering and being enveloped among the towering concrete stellae and also becomes an observer of others interacting with the blocks and each other. 

Associate Director for Special Collections

Profile Photo
Jessica Pigza
Contact:
Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library
203-432-4439