Joseph Bau

Joseph Bau (; 18 June 1920 – 24 May 2002) was a Polish-born Israeli artist, animator and writer. A survivor of the The Holocaust, Bau was sent to Brünnlitz labor camp operated by Oskar Schindler. The wedding between him and his wife Rebecca Tennenbaum, secretly conducted in the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp, is portrayed in Steven Spielberg's movie ''Schindler's List''. He later became known as the "Israeli Walt Disney".

Early life and career

Bau was born 18 June 1920 to a middle-class Jewish family in Kraków. Coming from a non-religious family, he attended a non-Jewish primary school then due to Poland's race laws had to attend a Jewish high-school.

After high-school, he trained as a graphic artist at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, Poland. His education was interrupted by World War II and he was transferred to the Płaszów concentration camp in late 1942 from the Kraków Ghetto. Having a talent in gothic lettering, he was employed in the camp for making signs and maps for the Germans. While in Płaszów, Bau created a miniature, the size of his hand, illustrated book with his own poetry. He also forged documents and identity papers for people who managed to escape from the camp.

During his imprisonment, Bau fell in love with another prisoner, Rebecca Tennenbaum. They were secretly married, despite the prohibition by the Germans, in the women's barracks of Płaszów. Their wedding was dramatized in Steven Spielberg's Academy Award-winning movie ''Schindler's List'', where he was played by Rami Heuberger. Bau as himself appears in the film's epilogue placing a stone on Oskar Schindler's grave in Jerusalem, along with his wife Rebecca.

Bau was transferred to Gross-Rosen concentration camp after Płaszów and then to Schindler's camp where he stayed until the end of the war, while Rebecca was sent to Auschwitz. It was not until the release of the ''Schindler's List'' in 1993 Bau learned Rebecca, who was a manicurist for Amon Goeth and also knew of Schindler, got his name on the list, choosing him instead of herself "because my husband was more important to me than I was, and I wasn't afraid".

After liberation, Bau was reunited with his wife and finished his degree at University of Plastic Arts in Kraków. In 1950, he immigrated to Israel together with his wife and three-year-old daughter, Hadassah, where their other daughter, Clila, was born. In Israel, Bau worked as a graphic artist at the Brandwein Institute in Haifa and for the government of Israel. He went on to create his own animated films and was referred to in the press as the "Israeli Walt Disney" or as the "founder of Israel's animation industry".

His wife Rebecca died in 1997. The following year, Bau's memoir ''Dear God, Have You Ever Gone Hungry?'' was published. Originally written in Hebrew the book was translated in Polish, English and several other languages. A Kirkus reviewer noted his humor and wit in the face of inhumanity. He was nominated for the Israel Prize the same year.

Bau died in Tel Aviv on 24 May 2002, at age 81.

Published works and exhibitions

* (Republished in 2025, titled ''Bau: artist at war'')

Exhibitions

*''When Joseph Bau Bites'', (1998) - Jewish Community Center, Baltimore, Maryland
*Knesset parliament building (2004)
*''The Holocaust Against the Sinti and Roma and Present Day Racism in Europe'' (2007) - United Nations
*''People from Schindler’s List'' (2012) - Oskar Schindler’s Factory Museum
*''Joseph Bau: Artist, Counterfeiter and Mossad Agent'', (2024) - Adolph and Rose Levis JCC - Sandler Center, Boca Raton, Florida

Legacy

Bau's paintings and drawings have been listed by Sotheby's as significant contributions to the art of the Holocaust and his works have been shown in galleries in the US.

The Joseph Bau House Museum, located in Tel-Aviv, is a studio that contains Bau's works, personal documents and other works. In 2024, the museum was designated as one of the “Best of the Best” for Specialty Museums in Israel by TripAdvisor.

In 2024 the film ''Bau, Artist at War'' about the lives of Rebecca and Joseph was released, directed by Sean McNamara and starring Emile Hirsch. The theatrical release is scheduled for September 2025.

References

External links

Joseph Bau's Home Page

*''Schindler’s Right-Hand Man became Israel’s Walt Disney'', https://aish.com/schindlers-right-hand-man-became-israels-walt-disney/, Aish, February 26, 2024.
*''A Holocaust survivor's extraordinary story: From Schindler's forger to Mossad artist'', https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/culture/1681642267-holocaust-remembrance-day-joseph-bau-museum, i24 News, April 17, 2023.
*''Believing in miracles, Israel’s ‘Walt Disney’ survived Holocaust by the sleight of his talented hands,'' https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-walt-disney-believed-in-miracles-surviving-the-holocaust-by-the-sleight-of-his-talented-hands/, Times of Israel, May 6, 2016

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bau, Joseph
1920 births
2002 deaths
Polish Jews in Israel
20th-century Israeli Jews
20th-century Polish Jews
Citizens of Israel through Law of Return
20th-century Israeli male writers
20th-century Israeli male artists
Gross-Rosen concentration camp survivors
Israeli animators
Israeli animated film directors
Polish animated film directors
20th-century Israeli illustrators
Jewish Israeli writers
Israeli memoirists
Israeli male poets
Jewish Combat Organization members
Jewish Israeli artists
Jewish poets
Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp survivors
Kraków Ghetto inmates
Polish emigrants to Israel
Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent
Schindlerjuden
Burials at Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts alumni
20th-century memoirists
Deaths from pneumonia in Israel
20th-century Polish painters