The Living Witness Summary

The Living Witness by Mary S. Costanza takes an intimate view into the lives of those forced into the Nazi-controlled concentration camps and ghettos during World War II through the art they created. The book begins by noting that there is no other time in recorded history that such a large number of visual documentation was created about the terrors a group experienced as did those in these European death camps. This book contains black and white photographs of some of the art produced by the individuals mentioned throughout. The author then explains the significance of the visual images as a universally understandable medium. By showing recognizable human forms experiencing horrifically inhuman conditions, it communicates volumes without the use of

any words. Much of the art created in these circumstances revolves around the human form, a visual that all human beings can immediately understand and relate to. The artists struggle to find surfaces to create on, such as the walls of their cells and tools to create with, such as charcoal, and wood chips, and even the scratching of their own nails, is documented, helping to explain the persistence of the human spirit during this time and to find ways to create something meaningful within circumstances that would never appear to allow it. This is the general idea behind “humanistic art”, which the author describes as art that depicts problems in society with a hopeful expectation that those problems with eventually be rectified. Those in the ghettos attempted to make the best out of their situation through the various art forms and cultural events. Professional theaters and professional schools of art surprisingly were allowed to exist within the ghettos.
Also discussed in this work is art projects assigned to those in the camps and ghettos for use by Nazi personnel, often for propagandizing purposes.

On some occasions Nazi officials would order art simply for their own enjoyment or for special occasions. This art was monitored closely by the Nazi government. Government-controlled art workshops existed in the ghettos. In the camps, those with artistic skills were surprisingly given a place. Those in the camps who were previously known for being artists and those caught creating art were often punished, but sometimes were “given particular duties for the pleasure of the Kommandant and his staff.” (13) Artists of all kind were sent into the camps, from cartoonists to costume designers. Art for bartering existed in the camps as well, such as an artist in the camp would offer their art to a guard in exchange for an extra morsel of food or for more art supplies. A chapter is dedicated to clandestine art: art made in secret in the camps and hidden and the lengths the artists went to to keep their art hidden, a remarkable feat considering the conditions. The following chapters are dedicated to the unearthing of this hidden art in the time following the closure of the

camps.
This book is both a terrible reminder of the horrors of the Nazi ghettos and concentration camps but also a story of the power and persistence of the human spirit. The art itself that the author puts within the book is powerful and tells the story of the horrors these individuals experienced in a way that words never could. Some of the images are difficult to look at and some are exceptionally beautiful. The written word of this book is very easy to read and is a fascinating and well written account of the bright spot that art in the concentration camps and ghettos created within a very dark time in world history.