“Degenerate art” – a term the Nazis applied to artwork created by persecuted and exiled artists – has been explored and examined in detail for decades. But how many people are aware of the art that emerged in the ghettos, hideouts and camps? Who is familiar with the likes of Jan Markiel, Marian Ruzsamski, Peter Kien, Władysław Siwek, Josef Čapek or Jerzy Adam Brandhuber? Felix Nussbaum and Peter Weiss are at least somewhat better known.
Jürgen Kaumkötter has spent more than 15 years exploring the art that emerged from the Nazi concentration camps and the artists who created it. He has searched for it in memorials, archives and private collections. In Death Does Not Have the Last Word, he tells the story of these artists and illuminates the often dramatic conditions under which their works were created and preserved. He also describes what life was like in the camps for artists, whose talents often did not escape the attention of the guards.
