In search of
Joseph Richter
Krzysztof Banach, the State Museum at Majdanek
On November 3, 2017, the State Museum at Majdanek opened an exhibition titled "Drawings on the Scraps of Life: The Extermination of Jews in the Lublin Region in the Sketches of Joseph Richter." The exhibited works, originating from the years 1942-1944, depict scenes from the activities of the labour camps in Trawniki and Lublin, the concentration camp at Majdanek, and the extermination camp in Sobibór, registered by a direct witness.
The figure of Joseph Richter and his drawings were discovered by Miriam Nowicz from the Ghetto Fighters’ House in Israel. Besides the name and surname provided by Miriam, little is known about the artist. According to Nowicz, who traveled all over post-war Europe in search of sources documenting the Holocaust, Richter’s collection was discovered during one of her visits to Poland. The drawings, documenting the activities of the German camps, deportations carried out by the Germans and executions of ghetto residents, were handed over to her by a resident of the area of Chełm, who preserved them until the end of the war. From information left by Nowicz at the Ghetto Fighters’ House, we learn that the author of these unique drawings probably joined the guerrilla units and died in a skirmish.
There are several hypotheses concerning the identity of Richter, but these and Nowicz’s account have not been confirmed to date in the archival sources known to Holocaust researchers. To obtain additional information on the mysterious graphic artist and the history of his sketches, the curators of the exhibition, Krzysztof Banach and Lech Remiszewski preceded its preparation with queries to Polish and foreign archives and museums. Although these measures did not result in the collection of tangible source materials, they provided for partial verification of the hypotheses regarding Richter and his works formulated by historians, and have also become the basis for further research by employees of the State Museum at Majdanek.
Exhibition "Drawings on the Scraps of Life" at the State Museum at Majdanek