Artwork of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and the children of Terezin concentration camp opens at Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, April 20-May 26

Hachioji - An unprecedented exhibit of the artwork of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, artist and teacher, and her students -- children imprisoned with her at the Nazis' Terezin concentration camp from 1942-44 -- will debut in Japan on April 20 at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum in Hachioji.

The exhibit, "Friedl and the Children of Terezin," features some 150 items from the life of this remarkable woman, including her own artwork, as well as 150 inspirational drawings and paintings by the children. Around 15,000 children were among those held at Terezin during World War II, a ghetto/concentration camp near Prague. Only 100 are known to have survived.

While imprisoned, Friedl, who was already an acclaimed Bauhaus-trained artist and teacher, devoted herself to teaching the children art to bring some joy and beauty into their traumatised lives. Before her own deportation to Auschwitz in October 1944, and her subsequent death there, Friedl hid some 5,000 children's drawings packed in two suitcases, which were only discovered ten years later. This exhibit, organised by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre/Museum of Tolerance of Los Angeles and the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, marks the first time that these pieces have been displayed in Japan.

"Friedl was fearless when others cowered in fear," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, in Japan for the exhibit opening. "She never lost the light in the darkness of the Holocaust and refused to abandon innocent youngsters who the world had abandoned."

Friedl helped the children at Terezin to express their fear, their defiance and their hope of survival, using methods that now have become the foundation of art therapy.

"I hope that this exhibit may provide a moment of introspection for its viewers, a moment for us to reaffirm the importance of our rights as human beings and the value of life itself," said Daisaku Ikeda, founder of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum and president of the Soka Gakkai International Buddhist association.

The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum is located at 492-1 Yano-cho, in Hachioji. "Friedl and the Children of Terezin" will run from April 20-May 26. Weekday hours 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Admission is 500 yen, and 200 yen for students; junior high school students and children may enter for free. Supporting organisations of the exhibit include Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Agency for Cultural Affairs. "Friedl and the Children of Terezin" will be shown in five other locations in Japan from July to October.

Further information at http://fujibi.or.jp/tfam/friedl/

SOURCE Tokyo Fuji Art Museum