The Holocaust Paintings by Judith Weinshall Liberman

The Center For Holocaust and Humanity Education is proud to present a moving art exhibit that captures the spirit of the female gender during the Holocaust. Women in the Holocaust: The Holocaust Paintings, by Judith Weinshall Liberman, uses abstract and realistic representations of the Holocaust to illustrate the unique experiences of women during the Holocaust. Liberman’s exhibit is on display as part of Holocaust Awareness Weeks 2003: Women and the Holocaust until May 15 at the Covington Cathedral Art Gallery, next to the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, 1140 Madison Avenue, Covington, KY.

Dr. Racelle Weiman, the Director of the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, will give a gallery talk, titled “Noble Voices, Courageous Voices: Speaking Above a Whisper,” at the Covington Cathedral Art Gallery on Thursday, May 8 at 7p.m. The Covington Cathedral Art Gallery continues to partner with The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education through extending this Holocaust education effort to the Northern Kentucky area. The gallery is deeply impressed with the attendance since the opening of the exhibit on April 1. One visitor commented: “The exhibit takes your breath away – the colors give more credence to any emotion you may be experiencing while viewing. As Jews, we are happy to see this exhibit being housed in a Catholic environment. I believe there are still too many who choose to believe the Holocaust never happened. As a woman, the basic emotions of being a mom or a sister, is depicted very realistically.”

The paintings selected have been compiled from two distinct groups especially for Holocaust Awareness Weeks 2003: Women and the Holocaust. Four of Liberman’s paintings represent the abstract group entitled Maps of the Holocaust. Liberman uses places, numbers, and symbols rather than individuals to illustrate the destruction of the Holocaust. Six other paintings will be taken from another group, which uses more realistic representations entitled Scenes of the Holocaust. These paintings show individuals being stripped of their humanity by the Holocaust. All of Liberman’s paintings use primarily red, black and gray to represent the pain, suffering, and death experienced throughout the Holocaust.

Judith Weinshall Liberman, now a resident of Boston, was born in Haifa, Israel and was ten years old when World War II began. As a young teenager, Liberman knew many people who lost innocent loved ones during the Holocaust. In 1947, Liberman moved to the United States to pursue her college education. She has received four degrees from American universities, including a degree in both social studies and law, and two degrees in art. Since the early sixties, Liberman’s artwork has focused primarily on the human condition. Her artwork is exhibited in museums and other public institutions across the United States and in Israel, and currently she is preparing materials for the Smithsonian.

Holocaust Awareness Weeks 2003: Women and the Holocaust is a community-wide Holocaust Education effort which brings programs in music, film, food, lecture, art, and theater to all facets of the greater Cincinnati community. These programs give voice to women survivors, resisters, and rescuers whose distinctive stories have been neglected, humanize the Holocaust by focusing on the details of individual experiences, and promote the core values of tolerance, justice, hope, pluralism, and empowerment. The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education at Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion is committed to programs invigorating the community with an awareness of the Holocaust as distinct for women, their roles and challenges and the inability to overcome powerlessness.

The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education is an education and community resource center located on the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. It offers workshops, professional training seminars, and graduate courses. Teaching Holocaust Studies from academic and theological perspectives, The Center promotes tolerance and social justice in a broad range of civic and cultural concerns. For more information, contact The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education by phone (513) 221-1875, ext. 355 or email chhe@huc.edu or check the website at www.holocaustandhumanity.org.