Usually I write about Art, the process of making it, how it affects our lives and throw in a little esoterica/philosophy on the side.
Today, however, I'm going to ask my readers to consider taking action on a great wrong done to an artist; a courageous woman who made her work under threat of death. I submit this story to you, with hopes that you will be moved to visit the site and take action, send an email; take maybe 3 or 4 minutes out of your life to help restore to an 85 yr old artist her stolen work. Here is the story:
In one of the darkest hours of human history, one of the children's barracks in Auschwitz, an astounding art drama unfolded.
This is where children were kept before taking them to the gas chambers. Dina Babbitt was an artist in the camps at the time, and one of the captive barracks captains asked her if she would paint a mural on the walls of the barracks to brighten up the lives of the kids. She chose Snow White, knowing that if she were caught doing it, she could be in big trouble.
After the mural was painted (the kids loved it, probably the last joy they would ever know) she was paid a visit by Josef Mengele. He was the guy who conducted horrific experiments on people in the camps, so naturally Dina was concerned for her life.What an ugly surprise she got !
Mengele was taking photos of some of the 13,000 gypsy prisoners in Auschwitz as part of his effort to prove that non-aryans were genetically inferior to aryans. He was not happy with the limitations of the camera, so he wanted Dina to paint portraits of them to more accurately capture their skin tones !
Now at 85 years of age she's trying to get her paintings back, and a museum that obtained them ( illegally) refuses to return her work ( they also send her releases to sign every time they reproduce her work, for which she has NEVER received even ONE RED CENT) .
Dina is having risky major surgery for cancer, and hundreds of thousands of artist the world over are sending emails to the museum in question to demand the return of Dina's work to her. She lives in California and has for many years. Several Congressmen/women have even written laws to facilitate the return of Dina's work, trying to help her get back what is rightfully hers, the stolen work, before she dies.
Here's a link to Dina's site:
http://www.dinababbitt.com/
I ask you please, PLEASE to consider going to the site, reading the info there and clicking on a link to send an email to the museum asking them to return Dina's paintings. This is an issue which should touch the hearts and conscience of all in the Arts, all who love Art; I ask you for your help; we CAN make a difference. Artists the world over are participating, no reason American artists & Art Lovers can't.
Here's Dina's site again...the email for the museum is in it, just click to send an email to them, giving your name and state/USA.
Thank You for taking time to read, hoping with all my heart to get a good response to this. Please consider sending the link to Dina's site to your friends/relatives. It would be a terrible sin for this woman to leave her life without her precious work, the faces of those who were about to die, back in her rightful possession. Just FYI, International Law fully supports Dina's ownership and rights to her work.
Your thought for today - "The quality of mercy is not strained". (Wm Shakespeare)
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