P.76 - The Esther Lurie Collection

The artist and painter Esther Lurie (1913-1998) grew up in Latvia. She studied in Belgium and made aliya to Eretz Israel in 1934. In 1938 she won the Dizengoff Prize. She traveled to visit her relatives in Latvia and Lithuania in 1939, and was unable to return to Eretz Israel. In June 1941 she was in Kaunas. She was deported to the Kaunas Ghetto and documented life in the Kaunas Ghetto in her paintings. She was deported later to Stutthof camp. Esther returned to Eretz Israel in 1945, married Dr. Yosef Shapira, and continued her artistic activities. She participated in many exhibitions and was active in the field of art and Holocaust commemoration. Works by Esther Lurie are included in the collections of Yad Vashem, in the Ghetto Fighters' House Museum, and in art museums. The Collection documents the experiences of Esther Lurie before the Holocaust (in Belgium, Eretz Israel, and Lithuania in the 1930s) and after the Holocaust (in DP camps and in [Eretz] Israel, from the 1940s to the 1990s). The Collection includes excerpts from her memoirs, the story of her life, her personal and professional correspondence, as well as documents related to her activities in the field of art and her role in the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust.