Drawing on the pages of time

The exhibition portrays a small part of the Groag family’s artwork, kept in a unique collection donated to the Beit Theresienstadt archive by the family. The collection includes a variety of drawings, pamphlets, letters, writings, and objects.

In early July 1942 Emanuel (Emo) Groag (1886-1961), with his wife Gertruda (Trude) (1889-1979) and their son Willi (1914-2001), were deported to Ghetto Theresienstadt. Emanuel was sent to work in the carpentry. A short while later, he was transferred to the technical department and began working on forging well-known works of art, under instruction of the Nazi command. Emanuel also took part in teaching and training children and youth in the ghetto. Though Truda had studied early education, in the ghetto she worked as a nurse. For a while she herself was sick and she took advantage of this time to work with children. She developed a special production technique using various materials available in the ghetto. Their son Willi was an educator in the L410 girls’ home.

The Groags did not cease their creative efforts. Throughout their time at the ghetto – through hunger and illness, hardship and despair, they continued to write and rhyme, draw and illustrate. Their artwork is a mosaic documenting the many facets of Ghetto Theresienstadt, its landscapes, people, workplaces, and cultural and social life. This is also a record of a moving and exceptional family story.