ID IDENTITY

This series was inspired by interviews with the Holocaust Survivors, Warsaw Uprising Survivors and political prisoners. In a period of 6 years I interviewed 38 people and some of the interview are available to watch under the link below ‘Interviews with the Survivors’.

“I do not regard suffering as ennobling and, although there are numerous examples of extraordinary bravery and compassion during the war and the Holocaust, I regard those days as ones primarily of bleak and violent destruction. Certainly, one can see how some people triumphed over adversity through what Primo Levi called “moments of reprieve” – but I would also add that their biographies probably also include stories of death and destruction which are being downplayed in order to emphasise the “triumph”. Anyone who lived through those years and survived them in Nazi-occupied Poland or in the Nazi ghettos and camps, saw things which do not give us conﬁdence where human behaviour is concerned. Some of them are in evidence in Agata’s paintings. (…)

These are works whose intensity provokes multiple responses and which urge the viewer to learn as well as to respond emotionally. This is why they deserve to be viewed and why they are such powerful starting points for interacting with and thinking about difficult subjects.”

Article by Prof. Dan Stone

Professor of Modern History and Director of the Holocaust Research Institute at RHUL

interviews with the survivors

INTERVIEWS

Baruch ‘Brian’ Bergman New York, The USA

Brian went to numerous concentration camps including Auschwitz

INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN BERGMAN

NEW YORK, 2016

BRIAN PASSED AWAY IN 2018

OIL PAINTINGS

Brian's story — Brian’s story 1, W 160cm H 160cm D 1 cm , oil on canvas, 2017-18, 3 kg

Brian,2017,150x240cm,oil on canvas.jpg — Brian’s story, diptych, H 150cm, W 240cm,D 2.5cm, oil on canvas, 2017, 4kg

Brian’s story 3, 163x163cm, oil on canvas, 2017-18

Brian story, 160x110cm .jpg — Brian’s story 4, Brian story, H 160cm, H 110cm, D 0.7cm 2017-18, 1kg

Alina Dąbrowska, Warsaw, Poland

arrested by Gestapo and taken to prison for 13 months

Concentration Camps- Ravensbruck, Malcow, Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Lipsk

Numerous medical experiments were conducted on Alina Dąbrowska

Alina's story, dyptych, H 160cm, W 220cm, D 3.5cm, oil on canvas, collage, 2017-18, 6kg

Janusz Kuć, Warsaw, Poland

Nazi Victim, Warsaw Uprising 1944

Prisoner at Stalag XI B, Fallingbostel and Stalag VI J Dorsen

Video credit Karol Wasilka

ID’44 Kuc story, dyptych, H 160cm, W 150cm, D 0,7cm and H 190cm, W 170cm, D 4cm, oil on canvas, 2017-18

Jadwiga Więch Komorowska, Warsaw, Poland

Nazi Victim, Warsaw Uprising 1944

Video credit Karol Wasilka

Jadwiga’s story, tryptych, oil on canvas, 165x423cm, 2016-18 — Jadwiga’s story, triptych, oil on canvas, H165 x W128 x D 0,7cm, and H165 x W145 x D 0,7cm and H165 x W128 x D0,7cm, 2016-18, 6 kg

Fred Brylowicz, New Jersey, The USA

Nazi Victim, Artillery observer in the Battle of Monte Casino

Fred’s story, oil on canvas, mixed media, 280x150cm, 2017-18 — Fred’s story, triptych, oil on canvas, mixed media, 280x150cm, D 0.7cm, 2017-18, 4kg

Fred's story2, 320x129cm, oil on canvas, 2017-18 — Fred's story2, diptych, 320x129cm, D 0.7cm, oil on canvas, 2017-18, 3kg

Daniela Ogińska, Warsaw, Poland

Nazi Victim, Warsaw Uprising 1944

Daniela’s story, 140x92cm; 151x100cm;80x100cm, tryptych, oil on canvas, 2016-18 — Daniela’s story, 1triptych, 40x92cm; 151x100cm;80x100cm, D 0.7cm, oil on canvas, 2016-18, 4kg

Oginska’s story, 140x300cm, oil on canvas, 2016-18 — Oginska’s story, triptych, 140x300cm, D 0.7cm, oil on canvas, 2016-18, 5kg,
Third piece on the right- SOLD

Juliette’s story, dyptych, 160x280cm, 2017-18 — Juliette’s story, dyptych, 160x280cm, D 0.7cm, 2017-18, 5kg

Wiesława Gołąbek, Wrocław, Poland

Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Seweryna’s story, tryptych, oil on canvas, 150x340cm, 2017 — Seweryna’s story, tryptych, oil on canvas, 150x340cm, D 2,5cm, 2017, 7kg

Zdenka Fantlova, London, the UK

Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Terezin Concentration Camp

Gross Rosen Concentration Camp

Mauthausen Concentration Camp

Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp

ID Identity No 33, 168x155cm, D 0.7cm, oil on canvas, 2018, 4kg

ID Identity No 34, 155x155cm, D 0.7cm, oil on canvas,2018, 3kg

ID Identity No 36, 137x137cm, D 2.5cm, oil on canvas, 2018, 2kg

ID Identity No 35, 177x160cm, D 0.7cm,oil on canvas ,2018, 6kg

Janusz Broszkiewicz, Warsaw, Poland

Nazi Victim, Warsaw Uprising 1944

Broszkiewicz’s story, 320x160cm, oil on canvas, 2017-18 — Broszkiewicz’s story, triptych, 320x160cm, D 0.7cm,, oil on canvas, 2017-18, 7kg

Maria Kornman, Melbourne, Australia

Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Leszek Żukowski, Warsaw, Poland

‘‘Leszek Stanisław Żukowski, ps. "Antek" (born February 11, 1929 in Kutno, Polish engineer, specialising in wood technology, university teacher , professor of technical sciences . A soldier of the Grey Ranks and the Home Army , participant in the Warsaw Uprising and concentration camp prisoner . Retired Major of the WP , since 2013 president of the Main Board of the World Association of Home Army Soldiers.’’

Source:Wikipedia

Ignacy Golik, Warsaw, Poland

CAMPS

-Barth (Germany : Concentration Camp)

-Sachsenhausen (Germany : Concentration Camp)

-Auschwitz (Poland : Concentration Camp)(generic)

-Oranienburg-Heinkelwerke (Germany : Concentration Camp)

Prewar Political Identity-Polska Partia Socjalistyczna

Prisons-Pawiak (Warsaw/ Poland : Prison)

Anna Jakubowska, Warsaw, Poland

‘She was born in 1927 in Warsaw. During World War II, she was active in the underground. First in the underground PET organization, and then as a nurse and liaison officer in assault groups transformed into the "Zośka" battalion of the Home Army (aka Paulinka) . She took part in the Warsaw Uprising in the "Zośka" battalion, the "Maciek" company - 3rd platoon. She fought in Wola , the Old Town and Czerniaków . For her achievements, she received the Cross of Valor . Her older sister Maria, pseudonym Maryna, died during the uprising.

After the war, she began studying psychology at the University of Warsaw. In 1949 she was arrested and sentenced to the so-called toilet trial for 8 years in prison. Released in 1954.

In the 1980s, she was involved in the Solidarity underground, and a distinguished activist in the milieu of the former "Zośkowcy" who managed to survive the German occupation and post-war repressions.’

Text source: Wikipedia