Joseph Bau

The Jewish Heritage Centre at the Asper Jewish Community Campus (123 Doncaster) is pleased to present "Joseph Bau: A Schindler Jew and His Art" - A Collection of Paintings and Graphics Inspired by Holocaust Survival and a Passion for Life.

The exhibition will run from April 9 to July 3, 2000 in the Marion and Ed Vickar Jewish Museum of Western Canada, and is sponsored by Advance Electronics and the Estate of Irma Lev.

Joseph Bau was born in Krakow, Poland in 1920 where he was trained as a graphic artist. Mr. Bau was transferred to the Plaszow Concentration Camp in late 1941. Because of his talent in Gothic lettering, he was employed in the camp making signs and maps for the Germans. While in Plaszow, Bau fell in love with another inmate, Rebecca Tennenbaum. Their secret marriage in the women's barracks of Plaszow was dramatized in Steven Spielberg's Academy Award winning movie "Schindler's List." While in Plaszow, Bau created a tiny illustrated book of his own poetry.

After liberation, Bau enrolled in the University of Plastic Arts in Krakow. In 1950, Bau immigrated to Israel together with his wife and three year old daughter. He worked as a graphic artist at the Brandwein Institute in Haifa and for the government of Israel. Bau opened his own studio in 1956 in Tel Aviv. Among other things, he drew titles for almost all the Israeli movies of the 1960s and '70s. At the same time, he authored a number of Hebrew books and continued to write poetry. The English version of his memoir, Dear God, Have You Ever Gone Hungry? (Arcade Publishing), which was first published in Hebrew and Polish, came out in June, 1998.

Bau also created his own animated films. For this he has been referred to in the press as the "Israeli Walt Disney." Joseph Bau's paintings and drawings have been listed by Sotheby's as significant contributions to the art of the Holocaust. His work has been shown previously in galleries in New York, Baltimore, Chicago and Minneapolis. Joseph Bau's art is filtered through the prism of his own experiences. It reflects both the brutal reality of life during the war, as well as the joy and humour he observed in later years in Israel. Joseph Bau was nominated for the prestigious Israeli Prize in 1998.

Also see this page on Joseph Bau, put up by The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Here you will see many of Mr. Bau's works.

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