ART CLASSES IN THE TEREZÍN CAMP AND FRIEDL DICKER-BRANDEIS’ TEACHING PRACTICES

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a documentary study on the work of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, an Austrian visual artist and art teacher imprisoned in Terezín, a concentration camp set up near Prague by the Nazi regime. As a backdrop, we present contextual information on the camp and then discuss the handwritten essay left by the teacher on her objectives and how she conceptualized and carried out her art teaching in the camp. Addressing this historical initiative helps us understand how an important space of artistic creation for children and adolescents could emerge amid such devastation.

Keywords
Art teaching; Creativity; Methodology of art teaching; Holocaust; Concentration camps