They Shall Be Counted: The Theresienstadt Ghetto Art of Erich Lichtblau-Leskly

They Shall Be Counted is a gallery of original watercolor paintings and drawings by Erich Lichtblau-Leskly. While imprisoned in Theresienstadt (Terezin) Ghetto during the years of 1942-1945, he artistically depicted the experiences of its residents, poignantly capturing the complications and ironies of the ghetto. Lichtblau-Leskly bravely and clandestinely created these paintings to show the realities of daily life.

Fearing for his life after others were rounded up and deported, Erich cut most of his artwork into pieces. His wife, Elsa, took the fragments of his artwork and hid them underneath the wooden floorboards of her barracks. Miraculously, they survived the war and she was able to retrieve them. While living in Israel during the 1970s and 1980s, Lichtblau-Leskly reworked these fragments into larger watercolor illustrations. Both original sketches and reworked illustrations are on display in the exhibition.

This exhibition is on loan from Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.