He can hardly store his paintings in his small apartment, which also temporarily serves as a studio. Artist Joram Baruch working on the project here ‘They had no idea what the future would bring them‘. 24 portraits of Jewish children in the years before the war.
“I started by copying a photo of my mother,” says the artist, pointing to a painting of a cheerful smiling girl in a checkered dress. “She was here for about three years, it was 1936 and she didn’t know what future awaited her. A few years later she had lost almost everyone. And then I came up with the idea. All those children in the war had no idea what the future would bring them. They just lived day to day, innocent, naive. I have to put a face to those kids.”
“Everything Ends in War”
Baruch has been active as an artist for many years. He paints portraits, still lifes but also abstract work. Everything that concerns him ends up on the canvas, but never before has his Jewish background been so present in his work. “The older I get, the more important my background becomes. A while ago I had research done through the site MyHeritage about my family’s past and it turns out that everything ends in the war.”
Baruch shows photos and his paintings: “Look, this little boy is so cute, he didn’t live to be older than twelve.” The photo shows a friendly little boy who, posing for the school photographer with his hand under his chin, looks straight into the camera .
“And these two sweet girls”, Baruch points to a painting, “Look at them, they clearly belong together and one is holding a small bag, so funny.” And with a portrait of two cheerful children on the street: “These are Minnie Moscow and her nephew Freddie in the Transvaalbuurt. She survived, he didn’t.”
“Who still tells their stories?”
It is important to Joram that he keeps the children’s stories alive; “My mother is the only one of her family who is still alive, but she is severely demented. Who still tells those stories? Who keeps those children alive? I am now trying to do that with all these portraits.” Ultimately, the intention is that the works will be exhibited. Until then stays Baruch painting, but for that he needs pictures. Anyone who has photos of Jewish children in the years between 1930 and 1940 can send them to him through his site.