inside the gas chambers |
David Olère
(1902 – 1985) was a Polish-born French painter and sculptor best known for his
explicit drawings and paintings based on his experiences as Jewish
Sonderkommando inmate at Auschwitz
concentration campduring World War II.
On February 20, 1943, Olère was arrested by
French police during a round up of Jews in Seine-et-Oise and placed in Drancy internment camp. On
March 2, 1943, he was one of approximately 1,000 Jews deported from Drancy to Auschwitz . From
this transport, Olere was one of 119 people selected for work; the rest were
gassed shortly after arrival. He was registered as prisoner 106144 and assigned
to the Sonderkommando at Birkenau, the unit of prisoners forced to empty gas
chambers and burn the bodies, firstly working in Bunker 2 and later in
Crematorium III. In addition to these duties, he was also forced to work as an
illustrator, writing and decorating letters for the SS.
Olère
remained at Auschwitz until January 19, 1945,
when he was taken on the evacuation death march, eventually reaching Mauthausen
concentration camp, then the Melk and Ebensee subcamps, from which he made five
unsuccessful escape attempts. Following his liberation on May 6, 1945, he
learned that his entire family had been exterminated in Warsaw . He subsequently moved back to Paris .
Olère began to draw at
Olère felt compelled to capture
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