Through an Artist's Eyes: The Dehumanization and Racialization of Jews and Political Dissidents During the Third Reich

Description

This book offers visual, social-historical analyses of paintings and drawings of the renowned German Communist artist Karl Schwesig. It follows the course of Schwesig’s internments, but is dedicated primarily to the plight of foreign Jewish persons and Christians (of Jewish descent) who were interned at Camps Saint-Cyprien, Gurs, and Noé in the French free zone. The artworks created by Schwesig provide the themes investigated in each chapter. The works describe the dehumanizing treatment that contributed to and characterized the racialization of foreign Jewish and “mixed-race” persons in France’s free zone and the attempted elimination of political dissidents. The volume includes color plates. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Racializing Jews Karl Schwesig’s Personal Troubles or Social Structural Issues? 1 “I Fought National Cannibalism With . . . Art”: Karl Schwesig, the Ethos of Düsseldorf, and the Weight of Stigmatization, 1933–1939 The Beginning of Woes Schwesig in the Schlegelkeller Schwesig’s Artist Colleagues Jewish Persons in the Prewar Düsseldorf Region Schwesig in Exile Transport of Jewish Exiles to the South of France 2 “The Inferno or Hell of [Camp] Saint-Cyprien,” 1939–1940 Saint-Cyprien’s Origins Saint-Cyprien 1939: First, a Camp for Spanish Republicans Jewish and Political Refugees After the Evacuation Structure, Agency, and Institutional Lapses at Camp Saint-Cyprien Privacy, Liberties, and Hygiene Diarrhea, Disease, and Death Weathering Camp Saint-Cyprien Religious Identity and Food at Camp Saint-Cyprien Foodstuffs and Cans Male Rape in Its Aftermath or at Saint-Cyprien? Institutional Roles and the Closing of Camp Saint-Cyprien 3 “Many of These Unfortunate People Are Intellectuals”: Art, Culture, Illness, and Death at Camp Gurs Encountering Camp Gurs The Men Cutting Firewood Poverty, Dignity, and Status at Gurs Art and Religious Celebrations “The Barrack of Death” Social Network at Camp Gurs A Response to Life at Gurs 4 “They Are All Special Cases of Ill and Old People Who Need Better Care Than the Ordinary Intern”: Opening Our Eyes to Camp Noé Inside Out: An Introduction to Camp Noé (a French Camp-Hospital) Vichy’s Camp Noé The Structure of Camp Noé and Its Provisions Noé Contraindicated for Tuberculosis Patients Food as Arbiter of Health Populations and Health Defining Sickness: When Disease Is Not Illness and Epidemics Do Not Exist Deportation of Foreign Jews From Camp Noé 5 “Cruelty . . . That Dehumanizes Its Victims Before It Destroys Them”: The Violence of Racialization What Threat Did Jewishness Pose to Vichy? How Jews Were Racialized and Political Dissidents Silenced The Salience of Racialization and Dehumanization in the 21st Century Karl Schwesig in Postwar Düsseldorf Index