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  4. Album of drawings and portraits made by Gabriel Cohen while imprisoned in the Vapniarka camp

Album of drawings and portraits made by Gabriel Cohen while imprisoned in the Vapniarka camp

Gabriel Cohen (b. 1902) joined the Socialist youth movement in Constantsa, Romania while in his teens. The subversive ideas suited his adventurous nature, and in 1921 he joined the Romanian Communist Party.

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The transport of political prisoners from the Targu-Jiu camp to the Vapniarca camp in Transnistria in November 1942.
The transport of political prisoners from the Targu-Jiu camp to the Vapniarca camp in Transnistria in November 1942.

The steam coming out of the engine spells the word “Transnistria”. Also depicted is the interior of the cattle car and the camp’s entrance gate. Drawn by Gabriel Cohen in the Vapniarca camp

Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection

The transport of political prisoners from the Targu-Jiu camp to the Vapniarca camp in Transnistria in November 1942.
Gabriel Cohen, 1920, Romania
Gabriel Cohen, 1920, Romania

Gabriel Cohen, 1920, Romania
The fence of the Vapniarca camp, the barbed wire fashioned into the letters of the camp’s name.
The fence of the Vapniarca camp, the barbed wire fashioned into the letters of the camp’s name.

Two dates are inscribed at the foot of the drawing: 16 November 1942 and 16 November 1943, indicating the beginning and end of the period of Gabriel Cohen’s imprisonment in Vapniarca. Drawn by Gabriel Cohen in the Vapniarca camp

Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection

The fence of the Vapniarca camp, the barbed wire fashioned into the letters of the camp’s name.
A youth walking with crutches.
A youth walking with crutches.

The image represents the paralysis that many of those detained in Vapniarca were stricken with after eating the poisonous peas that were a staple of the camp diet. Drawn by Gabriel Cohen in the Vapniarca camp

Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection

A youth walking with crutches.
The head nurse in the clinic at Vapniarca, Betty Belinski, a central figure in the camp where prisoners were in constant need of medical attention.
The head nurse in the clinic at Vapniarca, Betty Belinski, a central figure in the camp where prisoners were in constant need of medical attention.

Drawn by Gabriel Cohen in the Vapniarca camp

Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection

The head nurse in the clinic at Vapniarca, Betty Belinski, a central figure in the camp where prisoners were in constant need of medical attention.
Drawing of a man striding through an open gate towards the rising sun.
Drawing of a man striding through an open gate towards the rising sun.

The year 1943 - the past year of imprisonment - is behind him and he strides towards the liberation on the horizon in 1944. Drawn by Gabriel Cohen in the Vapniarca camp

Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection

Drawing of a man striding through an open gate towards the rising sun.
The transport of political prisoners from the Targu-Jiu camp to the Vapniarca camp in Transnistria in November 1942.
The transport of political prisoners from the Targu-Jiu camp to the Vapniarca camp in Transnistria in November 1942.
Gabriel Cohen, 1920, Romania
Gabriel Cohen, 1920, Romania
The fence of the Vapniarca camp, the barbed wire fashioned into the letters of the camp’s name.
The fence of the Vapniarca camp, the barbed wire fashioned into the letters of the camp’s name.
A youth walking with crutches.
A youth walking with crutches.
The head nurse in the clinic at Vapniarca, Betty Belinski, a central figure in the camp where prisoners were in constant need of medical attention.
The head nurse in the clinic at Vapniarca, Betty Belinski, a central figure in the camp where prisoners were in constant need of medical attention.
Drawing of a man striding through an open gate towards the rising sun.
Drawing of a man striding through an open gate towards the rising sun.
04. CampsAlbums, Diaries and LettersTransnistria