Skip to content

In pictures: Olère art depicts Auschwitz horrors

Auschwitz.org Olère painting showing himself as inmate (courtesy of Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial)Auschwitz.org
A Polish-French Jew, David Olère, painted Auschwitz death camp scenes after surviving the horrors there. This is a self-portrait.
Auschwitz.org Olère painting - Jewish and Christian victims/SS guard (courtesy of Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial)Auschwitz.org
The Auschwitz Memorial in southern Poland has acquired 18 Olère paintings. Nazi Germany murdered about one million Jews and 100,000 non-Jews at the Auschwitz complex.
Auschwitz.org Olère painting - SS guard/crematoria/bodies (courtesy of Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial)Auschwitz.org
Deported to the camp from Paris in 1943, Olère was forced into the Sonderkommando - a unit which collected corpses after gassing.
Auschwitz.org Olère painting - SS guard/crematoria/bodies (courtesy of Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial)Auschwitz.org
Olère shows the cruel Nazi slogan "work makes you free" and a crematorium chimney. He died in France in 1985 aged 83.
Auschwitz.org Olère painting - SS guards/dying prisoners (courtesy of Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial)Auschwitz.org
The artist's works are valued for helping to document the Holocaust. Poland's culture ministry bought the 18 works, the world's largest Olère collection.