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.
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgement
Preface
Introduction
Chapter One. “I Fought National Cannibalism with . . . Art”: Karl Schwesig, the Ethos of Düsseldorf, and the Weight of Stigmatization, 1933-1939
Chapter Two. “The Inferno or Hell of [Camp] Saint-Cyprien,” 1939-1940
Chapter Three. “Many of These Unfortunate People Are Intellectuals”: Art, Culture, Illness and Death at Camp Gurs
Chapter Four. “They Are All Special Cases of Ill and Old People Who Need Better Care Than the Ordinary Intern”: Opening Our Eyes to Camp Noé
Chapter Five. “Cruelty . . . That Dehumanizes Its Victims Before It Destroys Them”: The Violence of Racialization
