Page 35 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana w Łodzi. Artur Szyk, Man of Dialogue.

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Artur Szyk's drawings were frequently featured on covers of American magazines 3 35 BIOGRAPHY

In his war−time art, Artur Szyk paid
tribute to the heroes of the Warsaw
ghetto uprising. He dedicated several
works to the fighers.

The work refers to the biblical story
of Samson, who was captured by the
Philistines and blinded but, endowed
with extraordinary strength, destroyed
the temple of his enemies and avenged
the injustice dying under the ruins.
Samson is a symbol of struggle and
revenge. In a drawing from 1945,
Artur Szyk depicted the heroic fighters
of the Warsaw Ghetto: young people,
children, women, struggling with the
modern Philistines – the Nazi
Germany. In the background, one of
the combatants is falling, still holding
in his hands the white and blue flag
with the Star of David – the symbol of
the Zionist movement.

The drawing bears an inscription
around the border with the words: "My
people: Samson in the ghetto" and a
curse: "To the German people, sons of Self-portrait, New York 1941
Cain. Be ye damned forever and
forever."