Partisan, 1944

Alexander Bogen (Katzenbogen) (1916-2010)

Bogen was born in Tartu, Estonia. When Alexander Bogen was two years old, his father was conscripted into the Red Army and died in its ranks. Afterward the family moved to Vilna. In 1936, Bogen started his studies at the Vilnius Art Academy, but the outbreak of World War II cut his education short. With the commencement of Operation Barbarossa, he and his wife, Rachel, attempted to escape, but they were caught and interned in the Święciany ghetto and later in the Vilna ghetto. In 1943, Bogen succeeded in escaping to the partisans in the Narocz Forests. He returned to the Vilna ghetto, charged with the mission of organizing groups of youths, smuggling them out, and bringing them to the fighters. His wife and mother-in-law also joined him. He was also given the task of documenting partisan life and activity in his drawings.

When the war ended, the couple returned to Vilna. After completing his studies, Bogen lectured at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz. He and his wife immigrated to Israel in 1951. He taught art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was chairman of the Association of Painters and Sculptors in Israel. 

As part of his duties as a partisan in the Narocz Forests, Bogen documented the fighters and their activities. He drew his comrades in scenes of battle, hunger, at rest, and fatigued. Lacking proper art materials, he used wrapping paper he found, and burnt dry branches for charcoal. He used his penknife and wooden boards for carving woodcut blocks. In addition to its important documentary value, the glorification of the partisans and the commemoration of their courage played an important role in maintaining the fighters’ morale, and in psychological warfare.