Portrait of Reli Stern, 11 Years Old, 1944

Reli Stern (1934–1944)

This portrait depicts the artist's younger sister, Reli Stern. The portrait was drawn by Eugen Stern on the eve of the deportation from Dej to Auschwitz in May 1944. Reli was murdered at Auschwitz, and this drawing constitutes the last known documentation of the young girl before her death.

Eugen Stern (1922–2005)

Born in Dej, in Kluj, Transylvania, the first-born son of Gisi and Geza Stern, a shoemaker. He had one sister, Reli (Rituka). Dej was annexed to Romania after World War I, and returned to Hungarian control in August 1940. The anti-Jewish legislation passed in Hungary was enforced more stringently in Dej than in other parts of Hungary: the authorities enforced antisemitic regulations, Jewish men were recruited to the Hungarian Army's forced labor battalions, and there were mass-deportations to Ukraine, where many Jews were murdered. In May 1944, some two months after the German occupation of Hungary, the Dej ghetto was established in the Bungur forest, several kilometers from the city, and was operative for one month. The ghetto's Jews were deported to Auschwitz on three transports that departed on 29 May, 6 and 8 June 1944. Eugen, his parents and sister were among the deportees. The sole survivor, Eugen eventually immigrated to the USA, where he lived until his death.