Irene Awret

Irene Awret
photo from passport issued to Irene Spicker in March 1939
Born	Irene Spicker (1921-01-30)January 30, 1921 Berlin, Germany
Died	June 6, 2014(2014-06-06) (aged 93) Falls Church, Virginia
Occupation	artist, writer
Nationality	German American
Spouse	Azriel Awret

Irene Awret or Irene Spicker (1921–2014) was a German artist, author and Holocaust survivor.

Biography

Awret née Spicker was born on January 30, 1921, in Berlin, Germany.^[1][2] She was the youngest of three children. In 1937, as a result of the Nuremberg Laws, Irene left high school and began studying drawing and painting. Around 1939 she and a sister fled to Belgium, where she stayed for several years. She continued her studies and eventually was able to find work restoring wooden sculptures.^[3]

In 1943 Awret was detained by the Gestapo in occupied Belgium and subsequently sent to the Mechelen transit camp. She was assigned to the camp art workshop, where she produced signs and armbands. Awret was also required to paint portraits of Nazi officers.

While in the camp, she met Azriel Awret (1910–2011^[4][5]), fellow artist and prisoner. The two married in late 1944 after the liberation of Mechelen.^[6]

The couple and their children emigrated to Safed, Israel, in 1949. There they founded an art colony.^[7] In the 1970s, the couple moved to the United States and settled in Falls Church, Virginia.

Awret's memoir, They'll Have to Catch Me First: An Artist's Coming of Age in the Third Reich (ISBN 0299188302) was published in 2004 by the University of Wisconsin Press.^[6]

Awret died in Falls Church on June 6, 2014.^[5]

Legacy

Awret's paintings are included in the collection of the Beit Lohamei Haghetaot (Ghetto Fighters' House Museum).^[3] More of the couple's art is located at the Kazerne Dossin: Memoriaal, Museum en Documentatiecentrum over Holocaust en Mensenrechten (Kazerne Dossin Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre). Awret's 1939 passport is in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.^[2]

A small selection of Irene Awret's watercolor paintings is installed in a permanent virtual exhibition.

References

1. "EHRI – Awret-Spicker family. Collection". European Holocaust Research Infrastructure. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
2. "Passport issued to Irene Spicker in March 1939 stamped with the Nazi eagle and displaying the imposed middle name of "Sara". – Collections Search – United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
3. "Irène Awret". Learning about the Holocaust Through Art. Archived from the original on 16 March 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
4. "Azriel Awret". Learning about the Holocaust through Art. Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
5. "Irene Awret". Washington Jewish Week. 18 June 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2020.^{[permanent dead link‍]})
6. Padget, Jonathan (27 May 2004). "Portrait of a Holocaust Survivor". Washington Post. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
7. "Longtime F.C. Resident Irene Awret Dies at Age 93". Falls Church News-Press Online. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2020.

External links

• Images of Awret's work on Invaluable