02 March 2009
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Yad Vashem tomorrow, Tuesday, March 3, 2009. She will be accompanied by Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council Rabbi Israel Meir Lau. The Secretary will visit the new Bruno Schulz display, Wall Painting under Coercion, in the Holocaust Art Museum, guided by Director of the Museums Division Yehudit Inbar and Senior Art Curator Yehudit Shendar. Following the visit to the Holocaust Art Museum, the Secretary will participate in a Memorial Ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance, visit the Children’s Memorial, and sign the Yad Vashem Guest Book.
Following are media arrangements for her visit:
10:30: Arrival - CLOSED
10:40: Tour of Wall Painting under Coercion, in the Holocaust Art Museum - POOL
11:10: Memorial Ceremony, Hall of Remembrance - OPEN
11:20: Children’s Memorial - CLOSED
11:25: Signing of the Guest Book, Exit from the Children’s Memorial - OPEN
The Secretary will not speak at Yad Vashem.
Media who wish to cover the Secretary’s visit must arrive at the Hall of Remembrance by 9:30 with a valid GPO card.
POOL:
Stills: Getty
TV: Reuters
About the Bruno Schulz display in the Holocaust Art Museum at Yad Vashem:
Wall Painting under Coercion includes three original wall paintings, the last known work of Bruno Schulz before his murder at the hands of an SS man on November 19, 1942, as well as other works by and information about the writer and artist.
Bruno Schulz was born in Drohobycz (then Poland, today Ukraine). A Jewish author and artist, he was forced to embellish the walls of the nursery in a house occupied by S.S. man Felix Landau with fairy-tale protagonists. He was later shot to death by an SS sergeant on a day of pogroms in the city of Drohobycz. Despite being forced to paint the room by a brutal slave master, Schulz managed to maintain his distinctive artistic style, and his trademark inclusion of self-portraits in the works.
Some 60 years after they were made, the works were discovered in a state of neglect and disrepair. Since their arrival at Yad Vashem, they have undergone professional conservation to ensure that no further deterioration of the materials and colors occurs in the future. The paintings are on long-term loan from the Drohobychyna Museum, Ukraine.
