This exhibit focuses on the works of young artist Helga Wolfenstein King, whose connection to artist and poet Peter Kien influenced her greatly. While imprisoned in the Terezin ghetto, both worked in the technical department's drafting office, which provided visual aids for the Jewish administration's reports to the SS, as well as artwork for propaganda purposes. The young Kien, who was the office's deputy manager, was Helga's teacher and a kindred spirit. The love and artistic partnership that evolved between them is clearly reflected in their art.
Helga Wolfenstein King
Helga Wolfenstein was 19 years old when she was deported from Brno to Terezin in December 1941, together with her mother Hermine and her aunt Julia. Her mother, who served as matron in the ghetto's ward for infectious diseases, managed to organize a job for the artistically talented Helga in the technical department's drafting office. There, she met 22-year-old artist and writer Peter Kien and under his influence embarked on her creative trajectory. Peter and Helga worked together in the drafting office most of the day, shared drawing assignments, and continued to spend time together after...
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Franz Peter Kien
On 4 December 1941, with his promising artistic career well underway, Franz Peter Kien was deported to the Terezin ghetto. Peter studied and taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, yet in 1939 he was expelled from the Academy and began to teach drawing in the Vinohrady Synagogue in Prague. Upon his arrival in the Terezin ghetto, he was appointed deputy manager of the technical department's drafting office. In addition to his mandatory work, he wrote poetry, plays, and a libretto for the opera The Emperor of Atlantis. Helga Wolfenstein, three years his junior, assisted him in his artistic...
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