The Wiener Holocaust Library is one of the more than 20 institutions and museums part of “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.” exhibition. The Wiener Library, as the world’s oldest Holocaust archive and Britain’s largest collection on Nazi era, has an incredible directory of mainly pictures, documents and bibliography that helped reconstruct the context and narration of Europe’s darkest chapter in History. The Library provides a resource to oppose antisemitism and other forms of prejudice and intolerance.
By Lara Sebire-Hawkins Marketing and Social Media Officer, The Wiener Holocaust Library
Tatiana Barbakoff (1899-1944), also known as Celly Waldmann, was a ballet and Chinese dancer. She was born in the Russian Empire, but resident in Germany from after the First World War, she was of Russian-Jewish and Chinese origin.
Barbakoff was in France at the time of the German invasion in 1940. She was interned for a time at this point. In 1942-1944, Barbakoff hid in the Pyrenees and then the Côte D’Azur, where she was captured by the Gestapo. Barbakoff was deported to Drancy internment camp and then transported to Auschwitz where she was murdered on 6 February 1944.
Tatiana Barbakoff. Gerty Simon, Berlin, c. 1925- 1932.
Gerty Simon was the photographer behind this picture of Barbakoff between 1925-1932 in Berlin. Gerty was a German Jewish photographer, who was renowned in the 1920s and 1930s for her portraits of important political and artistic figures, as Tatiana Barbakoff, in Weimar Berlin and 1930s London.
The Wiener Holocaust Library displayed on 2019 Gerty Simon’s art for the first time ever to the public in over 80 years, and we are delighted to continue bringing the work of this powerful, innovative and largely forgotten photographic artist to public attention.
The genesis of this exhibition was in 2016 when The Wiener Holocaust Library received a donation of documents and photographs from the estate of Bernard Simon. Amongst his personal effects were 327 large-scale prints of photographs taken by his mother, Gerty Simon. The collection also contains material on exhibitions of Simon’s work held in Berlin and London and newspaper reviews.
Gerty Simon, self-portrait montage, Berlin c. 1935-1932. A number of Simon’s images portray women in the style of the ‘new women’ of Weimar Berlin, with short hair and a sometimes-androgynous look. Sympathy with the burgeoning gay culture of Berlin is suggested in some works
It became apparent to staff at the Library that Simon had once been a prominent and successful photographer, although today she is barely remembered. The context within which Simon produced her work was also immediately interesting. She worked first in Weimar-era Berlin, where it seems likely from the identity of her subjects that she had connections with the thriving and innovative creative scene of actors, writers, composers, dancers and artists there, as well as with the world of politics.
A striking feature of her photographs is that they depict some of the personalities from the milieu in Berlin that was largely destroyed by the economic and political difficulties of the early 1930s and the Nazi accession to power in 1933: a number of her subjects were later persecuted by the Nazis, with some becoming refugees themselves. Simon herself came with her son to Britain in 1933 to escape Nazi persecution, leaving behind her home, her studio and her husband. Despite the difficulties of her situation, it is clear from the identity of her sitters taken in London between 1934-1936, that she was very rapidly able to establish a footing in influential circles.
Max Liebermann (1847-1935), impressionist painter and print-maker. Liebermann was president of the Prussian Academy of Arts from 1920. He resigned in 1933 in the face of Nazi restrictions on Jewish artists. Almost all of the property of Liebermann’s wife, Martha, was seized by the Nazis. Martha Liebermann committed suicide in 1943 to avoid deportation to Theresienstadt camp and ghetto. Berlin, c.1929.
Paul Nash (1889-1946), surrealist painter and war artist. Photographer, writer and designer. Key figure in the modernist movement in Britain. London, c.1934-1935).
Sybil Rares (dates unknown), actress. Berlin, c.1929-1932.
Peggy Ashcroft (1907-1991), leading British actress who took roles in modernist and classical works. London, c.1934-1935.
Maktaba ya Maangamizi Makubwa ya Wiener ni moja ya zaidi ya taasisi 20 na makumbusho sehemu ya Auschwitz. Haikuwa muda mrefu uliopita. Si mbali. <unk> maonyesho. Maktaba ya Wiener, kama kumbukumbu ya kale zaidi ya Holocaust ulimwenguni na mkusanyiko mkubwa wa Uingereza juu ya enzi ya Nazi, ina orodha ya kushangaza ya picha, nyaraka na bibliografia ambazo zilisaidia kurekebisha muktadha na hadithi ya sura nyeusi zaidi ya historia ya Ulaya. Maktaba hutoa rasilimali ya kupinga antisemitism na aina nyingine za ubaguzi na kutovumiliana. Tatiana Barbakoff (1899-1944), pia anajulikana kama Celly Waldman, alikuwa mwanamuziki wa ballet na mcheza dansi wa Kichina. Alizaliwa katika Milki ya Urusi, lakini aliishi Ujerumani baada ya Vita Kuu ya Kwanza ya Dunia, alikuwa wa asili ya Kirusi-Yahudi na Kichina. Barbakoff alikuwa Ufaransa wakati wa uvamizi wa Ujerumani mwaka 1940. Alifungwa gerezani kwa muda fulani wakati huo. Katika miaka ya 1942-1944, Barbakoff alijificha katika Pyrenees na kisha Côte d'Azur, ambapo alikamatwa na Gestapo. Barbakoff alipelekwa katika kambi ya mateso ya Drancy na kisha kupelekwa Auschwitz ambapo aliuawa Februari 6, 1944. Tatiana Barbakoff Gert Simon, Berlin, 1925 - 1932 Gert Simon, mchoraji wa picha ya Barbakoff, aliwahi kuonekana katika picha ya Berlin mwaka wa 1925. Gerthe alikuwa mpiga picha wa Kiyahudi wa Ujerumani, ambaye alijulikana katika miaka ya 1920 na 1930 kwa picha zake za watu muhimu wa kisiasa na kisanii, kama vile Tatiana Barbachov, huko Berlin ya Weimar na London ya miaka ya 1930. Maktaba ya Holocaust ya Wiener ilionyesha sanaa ya Gert Simon kwa mara ya kwanza kwa umma katika zaidi ya miaka 80, na tunafurahi kuendelea kuleta kazi ya msanii huyu wa picha mwenye nguvu, wa ubunifu na amesahaulika sana kwa umakini wa umma. Maonyesho hayo yalianzishwa mwaka 2016 wakati maktaba ya Holocaust ya Vienna ilipopokea zawadi ya hati na picha kutoka kwa mali ya Bernard Simon. Kati ya vitu vyake vya kibinafsi kulikuwa na picha 327 za ukubwa mkubwa zilizochukuliwa na mama yake, Gerty Simon. Mkusanyiko pia ina nyenzo juu ya maonyesho ya kazi Simon uliofanyika katika Berlin na London na mapitio ya gazeti. Gert Simon, picha ya picha ya kibinafsi, Berlin, 1935-1932. Takwimu kadhaa za Simon zinaonyesha wanawake katika mtindo wa "wanawake wapya" wa Weimar Berlin, na nywele fupi na wakati mwingine kuangalia androgynous. "Kama vile alivyosema, ""Kwa wafanyakazi wa Maktaba, Simon alikuwa mpiga picha mashuhuri na mwenye mafanikio, ingawa leo anakumbukwa kidogo.""" Muktadha ambao Simon alitengeneza kazi yake pia ulikuwa wa kuvutia mara moja. Alifanya kazi kwanza katika Berlin ya enzi ya Weimar, ambapo inaonekana uwezekano kutoka kwa utambulisho wa masomo yake kwamba alikuwa na uhusiano na eneo la ubunifu la kufanikiwa na ubunifu wa waigizaji, waandishi, watunzi, wachezaji na wasanii huko, pamoja na ulimwengu wa siasa. Picha zake zinaonyesha watu kutoka Berlin ambao waliharibiwa na matatizo ya kiuchumi na kisiasa ya mapema 1930 na Nazi kuingia madarakani mwaka 1933: idadi ya watu wake baadaye walinyanyaswa na Nazi, na wengine wakawa wakimbizi wenyewe. Simon mwenyewe alikuja Uingereza na mwanawe mwaka 1933 ili kuepuka mateso ya Nazi, akiacha nyuma nyumba yake, studio yake na mumewe. Licha ya matatizo ya hali yake, ni wazi kutoka kwa utambulisho wa watazamaji wake waliochukuliwa London kati ya 1934 na 1936, kwamba aliweza haraka sana kuanzisha mguu katika duru zenye ushawishi. Max Liebermann (1847-1935), mchoraji wa impressionist na mtengenezaji wa uchapishaji. Lieberman alikuwa rais wa Chuo cha Sanaa cha Prussia kuanzia mwaka 1920. Alijiuzulu mwaka 1933 kwa sababu ya vikwazo vya Nazi kwa wasanii Wayahudi. Karibu mali zote za mke wa Liebermann, Martha, zilichukuliwa na Wanazi. Martha Lieberman, aliyekufa mwaka 1943 baada ya kuuawa na kuhamishwa kwenye kambi ya Theresienstadt, aliuawa. Berlin, mwaka wa 1929. Paul Nash (1889 - 1946) alikuwa mchoraji wa kisurrealist na msanii wa vita. Mpiga picha, mwandishi na mbuni. Mtu muhimu katika harakati ya kisasa nchini Uingereza. London, c.1934-1935). Sybil Rares (siku zisizojulikana), mwigizaji. Berlin, c.1929-1932. Peggy Ashcroft (1907-1991) alikuwa mwigizaji wa Uingereza na mwigizaji wa filamu za kisasa. London, C. 1934 - 1935