Mother and Child – Alisa Ehrmann Shek

Alisa Ehrmann Shek (1927-2007) Amateur painter and member of the Maccabi Hatzair Youth Movement, was deported in July 1943 to Ghetto Theresienstadt. In the ghetto she worked in the vegetable garden that provided the Germans with fresh food. She continued to draw, depicting events engraved upon her memory as well as everyday life in the crowded ghetto. One of the recurring topics in her drawings is the portrayal of a mother and child – this is a common topic in Holocaust drawings. Representations of a mother and child in the art world in general are universal and evocative, and particularly the portrayal of a human connection maintained under tough and threatening circumstances. These drawings depict love and compassion, preservation of the family unit and the special connection between a mother and her children. Throughout her life this topic became one of the main themes of Alisa’s drawings.