dr. Sarah Palermo, Art Historian
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
In collaboration with the Jewish Historical Institute ofWarsaw and the Holocaust Museum Foundation the Polish Institute in Rome present the exhibition Dancing 1944by Mieczysław Wejman edited by Piotr Rypson. The exhibition represents the German authorities that deported or killed approximate-ly 300,000 Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto up until September 1942.
To commemorate the revolt, the Polish Institute of Rome, in collaboration with theJewish Historical Institute of Warsaw and the Holocaust Museum Foundation. The uprising of April 19, 1943 was the largest armed uprising of Jews during WorldWar II and the first urban uprising in Nazi-occupied Europe. This period did not leave behind much visual evidence, yet, in addition to documents,photographs or films, we can still see some representations of the Holocaust made byartists today. The Dancing 1944 exhibition is a rare testimony, in Polish art, of the times of the oc-cupation of Warsaw and the Holocaust.
On display are 45 prints and sketches made by Mieczysław Wejman, created betweenthe moment in which the liquidation operation of the Warsaw ghetto was undertaken(July 1942), the uprising of the Jews in the ghetto (April 1943) and the outbreak ofthe following uprising, that of the citizens of the Polish capital, the so-called WarsawUprising (August 1944). The series has remained to this day unknown to the great public. During the occupation, Mieczysław Wejman worked as a warehouseman at the vodkafactory and spirits, close to the Warsaw ghetto, while at the same time participating in the un-derground artistic life of the capital. It is in this period that the artist creates a seriesof sketches and prints entitled Dancing. For years this first graphic series by Wejman has been interpreted as a general meta-phor for human destiny tested during the horrors of war – the artist refers to the printsof Francisco Goya and spirits, close to the Warsaw ghetto, while at the same time participating in the un-derground artistic life of the capital. It is in this period that the artist creates a seriesof sketches and prints entitled Dancing, For years this first graphic series by Wejman has been interpreted as a general meta-phor for human destiny tested during the horrors of war – the artist refers to the printsof Francisco Goya.
We recognize in this series a representation of the existential condition of the Jews ofthe Warsaw Ghetto, in that tragic period. Particularly touching is the sketch for thepainting The Game popular (1944), which refers to the playground set up in the spring of 1943 by theGermans in Krasiński Square, right next to the ghetto, while it was burning during theclashes with the Jewish insurgents. Mieczysław Wejman was an outstanding Polish graphic artist.
Born on May 19, 1912 in Brdów, he studied between 1933 and 1936 at the Faculty ofArts of the University of Poznań and continued his studies at the Krakow Academy ofFine Arts for one year, before moving to Warsaw, in the studio of Mieczysław Kotarbiński. After the war, the artist became an active organizer of artistic life holding numerouspositions, including that of rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. Mieczysław Wejman died in Krakow on November 27, 1997.
European Jewish History Project 