Some of those who had experienced Nazi persecution and even survived ghettos and death camps responded to their experiences in works of art. Even in the midst of great suffering and oppression, some managed to maintain a connection with their pre-war lives through artistic and intellectual endeavour.
Phillip Manes, a German Jew deported to Theresienstadt in 1942, recorded the cultural life of Theresienstadt camp and ghetto in his notebooks. His fellow inmates, many artists themselves, contributed drawings to his notebooks, including sketches of the streets and buildings in Theresienstadt. Manes was ultimately murdered in Auschwitz, but his notebooks survived and were deposited in the collections of The Wiener Holocaust Library in 1995.
As well as artistic works made in the camps, many people who were persecuted by the Nazis during the Holocaust artistically interpreted their lived experiences after the liberation in various ways. In addition, there is a wide range of artistic interpretation of the Holocaust created by second, third or fourth generation descendants of survivors, and by artists who have no direct family connection but have nevertheless felt moved to interpret the events of the Holocaust through art.