Thursday, December 2, 2021 (Shelly Fox, Cantorial Soloist & Musical Director)

Friedl Dicker-Brandeis was a light to many children at a time of deep darkness. Although she had a flourishing artistic career during a powerfully creative time in Germany, Dicker-Brandeis was deported to Terezin Concentration Camp in 1942 because she was Jewish a Communist. Having lost her mother at a young age and having no children herself, Dicker-Brandeis became a mother figure to hundreds of children at Terezin by sustaining them through art classes.

After her death in Auschwitz, over 5000 pieces of children’s art and her own art which she had hidden were discovered at Terezin. Survivors praise her memory and how she helped them.

One former student wrote, “Friedl’s teaching, the times spent drawing with her, are among the fondest memories of my life. Terezin made it more poignant but it would have been the same anywhere in the world… Friedl was the only one who taught without ever asking for anything in return. She just gave of herself.”

May your light shine as bright, Happy Chanukah!

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