Because I Was a Painter

French filmmaker Christophe Cognet's documentary examines a tragic subchapter of the Holocaust: works of art created by concentration camp inmates that would only become known after the end of World War II. Most of these works were created in secret, capturing the physical and emotional burdens suffered by the Nazis' prisoners. But some artwork was made with the full knowledge of the Nazis, most notably paintings by Dinah Gottliebov (later Dina Babbitt) depicting Romani prisoners who would become the subjects of Josef Mengele's evil medical experiments. Because I Was a Painter raises profound questions about the role of the artist in documenting the dehumanizing misery of the concentration camps—or as Belgian artist José Fosty noted in seeing the dead of Buchenwald, “All these dead bodies totally drained of color: a symphony of grays.” The artwork here represents a visual record of the horrible reality of life within the camps, as the artists wound up recording for posterity what the Nazis tried to keep from the world's view. Offering invaluable insight into the triumph of art in the face of an unprecedented horror, this is recommended. [Note: this is also available with public performance rights for $99.95: public libraries and $395: colleges and universities from www.cinemaguild.com.] Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)