On May 2nd I embarked on an amazing two week journey called The March of the Living. Jewish teenagers, staff, and survivors from all across the globe traveled to Poland with different delegations. In Poland we toured a number of concentration camps and took part in a three kilometer march from Auschwitz to Birkenau. After the one week in Poland we traveled to Israel to celebrate Israel’s Memorial Day and Independence Day. With this exhibition/blog I hope to not only underscore some of the highlights from my trip, but also to put you in my shoes on my journey so that together we can celebrate walking out of the treacherous concentration camps and into the streets of Jerusalem and proclaim, “never again!” with the names and stories of those who perished in the Holocaust filling our hearts.
Monday, June 13, 2016
Sunday, June 12, 2016
CONTACT INFORMATION
To get in touch with me (Gabe) about purchases or any work from this blog, you may contact me at:
Email: gabe.adler11@gmail.com
Phone: 912-856-9616
Email: gabe.adler11@gmail.com
Phone: 912-856-9616
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Walking Out Alive: United to End Genocide
A portion of the money raised from selling this work will be donated to United to End Genocide. United to End Genocide is dedicated to preventing and ending genocide and mass atrocities worldwide by building a powerful, lasting movement of community activists, faith leaders, students, artists, investors and genocide survivors, and all those who believe we must fulfill the promise the world made following the Holocaust: “Never Again!”
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Walking Out Alive: Photos & Descriptions
'Exiting Birkenau'
This picture was taken as we walked out of Birkenau (Auschwitz II) on the second day. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the deadliest and most efficient death camp, and it is estimated that over a million people were killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Most people who entered did not have the privilege we had of walking out.
10” X 6.7”
10” X 6.7”
2016
Edition: 1/10
Framed: $250
Print: $100
'Suitcases at Auschwitz'
At Auschwitz there is an unbelievable collection of personal possessions and items of people who went through the camp. This picture came from an enormous pile of suitcases, but there were similar collections of hairbrushes, crutches and braces (Hitler also wanted to exterminate the handicapped population), shoes, and even hair. Seeing these things in person in mass numbers makes the camps more personal because it humanizes the people who went through these camps. So often the numbers can cloak the story of those who perished, but seeing a baby bootie amongst the thousands and thousands of shoes reminds you of the humanity and innocence of the victims.
18” X 12”
18” X 12”
2016
Edition: 1/10
Framed: $300
Print: $100
'Drawing on the Wall of Auschwitz'
In 1978, Polish authorities decided to turn Block 27 at Auschwitz into an exhibition dedicated to the Jewish victims of Auschwitz. One of the wings in Block 27 is completely dedicated to an exhibit done by Israeli artist Michal Rovner called “Traces of Life”. Rovner copied onto the walls of the room sketches and doodles (like the one depicted in the photograph) done by children in the Holocaust. The exhibit is devoted to the 1.5 million children that died in the Holocaust. In an interview with ynetnews.com Rovner said, "My intention was to try to get closer to the children wiped from this world, while conveying a sense of absence. The lines I copied are those of the children. Every time I drew, those children got to draw again through me, and that way I gave them presence in a place which wanted to make them disappear."
18” X 12”
2016
Edition: 1/10
Framed: $300
Print: $100
'Book of Names'
The last room we entered in Block 27 was the room holding the Book of Names. The six-and-a-half-foot-high volume takes up the entire room and contains the names of the 4.2 million Holocaust victims and their personal details. Its last pages remain empty for names which have yet to be located. I circled the book about two thirds of the way around; I passed a weeping, shaking woman being embraced. I began to flip through the book: “Then I found it, ‘Gabriel Adler’. Two of them. Again, another Gabriel Adler had to die for me to be here today. It’s crazy to think about that when it comes down to it, all we have is our name. I have a new responsibility to carry on the legacy of those two Gabriel Adlers. People can take away your house, money, car, body, but no one can ever take your name.” I wrote this in my journal that day. They tried to take away our names too by giving us numbers and calling us by them, but by me being here, by me having this gallery, by me living my life Jewishly as Gabriel Adler, I am living proof that they failed to take away our names. I later researched the two Gabriel Adlers that I saw in the book. One of them was no older than ten or eleven when he was taken by the Nazis. He didn’t have the chance to do any of the things I’ve been able to do the past seven years.
30" X 20”
2016
Edition: 1/10
Framed: $400
Print: $150
'Memorials of Treblinka'
Treblinka was especially haunting in my opinion for two reasons: First, because none of the gas chambers, barracks, or other parts of the camp remained because the Nazis covered their tracks. Second, like Birkenau, the landscape is absolutely beautiful, and upon entering Treblinka you would’ve thought you were driving into a summer camp. This beautiful landscape included dense trees scraping the clouds, wildflowers sprouting from the ground, and dandelions swirling in the wind nonstop. Although there are very few remains, there is this memorial which has rocks with each community that lost Jews at Treblinka written on them, and then the large structure in the background is a 26-foot granite memorial stone, which was designed to resemble a tombstone. It is located approximately on the spot where the gas chambers once stood.
10” X 6.7”
2016
Edition: 1/10
Framed: $250
Print: $100
'Trees of Treblinka'
As we walked out of Treblinka, one of our adult staffers (who was on her eighteenth march), Sherrie, said that something she thinks of every time she goes to Treblinka is, “if these trees could talk...the stories they would tell”. This quote from her inspired me to write this poem which I had the honor of reading in front of the entire group at our ceremony at Majdanek:
“The Wise Tree of Treblinka”
Gather around children, let me tell you a story:
I speak of short men with tall hats and long last names.
I speak of peddlers, pushers, and pediatricians
Sit down children: look over there. Look at the lady weeping.
She moans the song of sturdy women with crumbling nail beds and
unshakable wills.
She moans of mothers, matriarchs, and messengers of God.
Look closely children: look at what the willow weeps for.
Look how she protects the dreams of her children dandy with laughter
and lion hearts.
Look, look around children:
Look at how God blows the petals carrying dreams of little boys and
girls just like you.
See how the petals float all around us.
Now get on all fours and dig. Deeper children!
Look at what makes this soil so special.
Feel it's weight my children:
5000 plus years of prophets, holy women
and men, of Jacobs and Abrahams and Sarahs and Rachels.
5000 plus years of exodus, discrimination, and homemade latkes.
5000 plus years of pogroms, rabbis, and Passover Seder at nana's.
5000 plus years of trailblazing new paths, memorizing bat mitzvah
Torah portions, and rebuilding temples.
My children do you feel it's weight yet? The richest soil in the history of mankind is sitting in the palms of your hands!
Now look up. Look at me my children. Look at how tall I have grown.
Soon my head will peek above the clouds.
I promise you my children, when I get there I will sing of our legacy to God.
I will sing of the 5000 plus years of the unbreakable people, but for now I will not
bother him, for he is too busy making wishes on the dreams of dandelions.
10” X 6.7”
2016
Edition: 1/10
Framed: $250
Print: $100
'Approaching Birkenau'
The march itself was most likely the highlight of the trip. Around 10,000 people from all across the globe participated in the three kilometer walk from the gates of Auschwitz to the gates of Birkenau. Most of the 10,000 people were young Jews like me who were on similar two-week trips to mine. Also among the 10,000 were staff and survivors. There were delegations from all over America, South America, and Europe. This picture was taken towards the end of the march as we got closer to Birkenau. A storm is just starting to roll in; The weather that day was indescribable. Nevertheless, not even a hail storm could have deterred our spirits that day. Seeing such a large number of people with such great energy overrun Auschwitz and flow into Birkenau was indescribable. We sang and laughed and hugged as if to show that we have never been more alive than in the same places where our ancestors were tortured and killed.
18” X 12”
2016
Edition: 1/10
Framed: $300
Print: $100
30" X 20”
2016
Edition: 1/10
Framed: $400
Print: $150
'Marching Through the Old City'
The second march took place in Jerusalem on Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day). An almost identical group to the one that marched from Auschwitz to Birkenau made a one kilometer walk from Mount Zion to The Kotel. Yom Ha'atzmaut falls the day after Yom Hazikaron (Israeli Memorial Day). These are the only two Israeli national holidays, and having Independence day directly after memorial day makes you appreciate Israel even more. Everyone in Israel has been affected by a military related death because everyone in Israel is required to serve. This means that the mood for Yom Hazikaron is very gloomy and somber. After twenty-four hours of recounting the stories of those who died defending Israel, everyone is ready to celebrate the fact that Israel is standing tall. While Israel is not perfect, I am truly grateful that it exists and that I can go there freely.
18” X 12”
2016
Edition: 1/10
Framed: $300
Print: $100
'Youth at the Kotel'
This is a picture of the Kotel after the second march. The Kotel had a much different vibe on the day of the march than the day we visited for the first time. On the day of the march, there was barely any space, especially on the women’s side which is about a third of the size of the men’s. Because there were so many people, instead of being a silent place a of worship, the wall served as a watering hole, bringing thousands of Jewish teens to a spot to convene while simultaneously quenching their collective spiritual thirst.
18” X 12”
2016
Edition: 1/10
Framed: $300
Print: $100
'Exiting the Bunker'
This picture was taken exiting a bunker at Mount Bental, a peak in the Golan Heights with great panoramic views of the Golan and Syria. Mount Bental was the site of a courageous stand by an Israeli force of 160 tanks during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The Syrians attacked with 1,500 tanks and 1,000 artillery pieces, but the Israeli force held them off. To remember the bloody battle, the valley below the mountain is called the Valley of Tears. We visited a number of different battle sites and war memorials across the country while we were in Israel. Because Israel is such a young country with strong military roots, it is easy to connect to the country’s history; It would be like if there were still Americans alive who fought in the revolutionary war. Israel’s geography also made it easy to connect to its military’s history because the country is so small, hilly, and geographically diverse, so our guides could point to where invasions took place or where territory was claimed.
18” X 12”
2016
Edition: 1/10
Framed: $300
Print: $100
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