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Finding Aid for They didn't live to see 2019.008.h.r
2019.008.h.r
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Contributing Institution:
Oskar Schindler Archives
Title: Luba Krugman Gurdus portfolio
Identifier/Call Number: 2019.008.h.r
Physical Description:
1 Item
Date (inclusive): 1949
Abstract: The portfolio of lithographs reflect the indelible impressions of an artist and witness who survived six years of the Holocaust
in ghettos and camps of Poland.
Physical Description: This item is in good condition.
Physical Location: Located in the flat file drawer in the archive.
Language of Material:
English
.
The sixteen 10' x14' lithographs reflect Luba Krugman-Gurdus's six years of the Holocaust in ghettos and Majdanek concentration
camp. The portfolio includes a heartrending introduction and text, describing the lithographs, printed in sepia on heavy tan
sheets. The original art works of Gurdus is widely exhibited in the United States and Israel, in public institutions and private
collections. The sixteen works, selected for the portfolio, traveled to the American Jewish Congress, throughout the United
States, and now part of the permanent collection of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
This collection is open for research use.
There are no restrictions on the use of this material except where previously copyrighted material is concerned. It is the
responsibility of the researcher to obtain all permissions.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Deborah Rosenthal Zimmerman. In memory of Rabbi and Mrs. Norbert L. Rosenthal
[Item title/description; box number/folder number] Luba Krugman Gurdus portfolio (2019.008.h.r), Oskar Schindler Archive,
Chapman University, CA.
Luba Krugman was born on August 1, 1914, in Bialystok, Poland, to Jewish parents, Tewja and Anna Krugman. The family settled
in Warsaw. In 1930, she attended art school in Lausanne, Switzerland. The next year, she went to Berlin, Germany, to study
at the Academy of Fine Arts and Reimannschule for Applied Art. Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, and that year Luba
returned to Warsaw. Luba was an editor and illustrator at Bluszek Publishing. She married Jacob Gurdus in 1935. She began
working Stybel Publishing, owned by her brother-in-law Abraham Joseph Stybel. Luba and Jacob had a son, Robert Michael, born
on August 24, 1938, in Warsaw.
On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Warsaw was occupied on the 29th. On November 23, Jews were required to
wear white armbands with blue Stars of David to separate them from the general population. Schools were closed, property confiscated,
and Jewish males were conscripted for forced labor. Luba and her family and all the city's Jews were confined to a walled
in ghetto in fall 1939. Food was scarce and disease was widespread. By December 1941, Luba and her son had gone to Brody Male
near Lublin, and then to Zwierzyniec. Her son died of diphtheria on September 12, 1942. Luba's parents also died. Luba was
interned at Majdanek concentration camp.
The war ended in May 1945. Luba and her younger sister Mira emigrated to Palestine in 1946. Luba worked for Yedioth Publications
and established a woman's magazine, L'Ischa. She resumed her art career and created a series of drawings about her Holocaust
experiences which were exhibited in Israel and, later, the United States. In 1948, she left for New York on the Marine Carp,
arriving on January 7. She rejoined Stybel Publishing. She had been separated during the war from her husband Jacob, who had
served in a Jewish Unit of the British Eighth Army. Luba received a doctorate in art history from New York University in 1962
and later joined the Research department of the Frick Art Library. In 1978, she published "The Death Train" an illustrated
account of her experiences. Luba, 97, died on December 6, 2011.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Holocaust survivors -- History -- 20th Century
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Concentration camps in art.
Jewish women in the Holocaust
Majdanek (Concentration camp)
Gurdus, Luba Krugman