Two Men Sleeping in a Detention Center, 1944

Miklós Robert (Rosenberg) (1911–2001)

Born in Ungvar, Austro-Hungary. Deaf from the age of four, Robert completed his academic studies in art and furniture design in Budapest. He began to exhibit his works in 1939, but being Jewish, his paintings were removed from the exhibitions. During his internment after the Nazi occupation in 1944, he drew a series of sketches depicting the other inmates, awaiting an unknown fate, before they were deported to Auschwitz. With the help of the Red Cross, he escaped from the Obuda Labor Camp and became active in the Red Cross. As a result, he worked as a courier for the Swiss Embassy, a position that afforded him the opportunity to save Jews by forging documents. After the war Robert traveled to the Soviet Union to search for his parents, and was prevented from leaving for eleven years. During that time, he exhibited his works in Soviet galleries. In September 1956, he traveled to Budapest, and from there fled to Vienna, where he continued to be active as an artist.