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Michael (Otto) Falk (1929, Schneidemühl, Germany – 2018, Sde Warburg, Israel)

Holocaust survivor Michael (Otto) Falk created this series of artworks between the years 1995 and 2002. The series depicts events from his childhood in Germany and his new life in Ireland as fragments of memory. The display of his works in sequence tells the story of a Jewish boy in Nazi Germany who was scorned and vulnerable, and for whom the world as he knew it ceased to exist.

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Michael Falk (1929-2018). In the Park, Frankfurt 1937, 1995

Michael Falk (1929-2018). In the Park, Frankfurt 1937, 1995

Oil on a wooden board

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of the Falk family, in memory of the late Michael Falk

Michael Falk (1929-2018). In the Park, Frankfurt 1937, 1995

Michael Falk (1929-2018). In the Schoolyard, Frankfurt 1937, 2002

Michael Falk (1929-2018). In the Schoolyard, Frankfurt 1937, 2002

Oil on a wooden board

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of the Falk family, in memory of the late Michael Falk

Michael Falk (1929-2018). In the Schoolyard, Frankfurt 1937, 2002

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Gestapo Raid, Frankfurt 1938, 1999

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Gestapo Raid, Frankfurt 1938, 1999

Oil on a wooden board

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of the Falk family, in memory of the late Michael Falk

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Gestapo Raid, Frankfurt 1938, 1999

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Leaving Germany, Hamburg, 19 April 1939, 1997

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Leaving Germany, Hamburg, 19 April 1939, 1997

Oil on a wooden board

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of the Falk family, in memory of the late Michael Falk

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Leaving Germany, Hamburg, 19 April 1939, 1997

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Dublin Days: Mother and Son, Ireland 1940, 1999

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Dublin Days: Mother and Son, Ireland 1940, 1999

Oil on a wooden board

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of the Falk family, in memory of the late Michael Falk

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Dublin Days: Mother and Son, Ireland 1940, 1999

Michael Falk (1929-2018). The Jewman's Funeral, Ireland 1940, 1998

Michael Falk (1929-2018). The Jewman's Funeral, Ireland 1940, 1998

Oil on a wooden board

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of the Falk family, in memory of the late Michael Falk

Michael Falk (1929-2018). The Jewman's Funeral, Ireland 1940, 1998

Michael Falk (1929-2018). In the Park, Frankfurt 1937, 1995

Michael Falk (1929-2018). In the Park, Frankfurt 1937, 1995

Michael Falk (1929-2018). In the Schoolyard, Frankfurt 1937, 2002

Michael Falk (1929-2018). In the Schoolyard, Frankfurt 1937, 2002

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Gestapo Raid, Frankfurt 1938, 1999

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Gestapo Raid, Frankfurt 1938, 1999

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Leaving Germany, Hamburg, 19 April 1939, 1997

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Leaving Germany, Hamburg, 19 April 1939, 1997

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Dublin Days: Mother and Son, Ireland 1940, 1999

Michael Falk (1929-2018). Dublin Days: Mother and Son, Ireland 1940, 1999

Michael Falk (1929-2018). The Jewman's Funeral, Ireland 1940, 1998

Michael Falk (1929-2018). The Jewman's Funeral, Ireland 1940, 1998

Falk studied art from an early age, and graduated from art academies in Dublin and New York. His works are naïve in genre, characterized by accessible everyday scenes, an abundance of two-dimensional details, bright optimistic colors and an idealized reality.

At first sight, the artworks are easy on the eye and depict mundane, familiar situations. However, closer scrutiny reveals the drama taking place under the surface and a gradually process of disintegration. Apart from "Gestapo Raid", which is a violent depiction, his artworks only hint at the hardship, pain and humiliation Falk experienced as a Jewish boy in Germany.

Falk did not write his memoirs, give interviews or refer often to his Holocaust experiences. Biblical scenes and depictions of kibbutz life feature in many of his artworks. The series displayed here is the only testament to his childhood years in Nazi Germany.

Michael (Otto) Falk

Born in a small agricultural town on the Polish border (today Piła in northwest Poland), Michael was the second son of architect Susanne née Kohen and Paul Falk, owner of a factory for the production of plows and other agricultural equipment. In 1935, Paul was forced to sell the family business as part of the "Aryanization" process. From that time on, Michael's parents worked tirelessly to get their children out of Germany, and their firstborn, Martin (Gideon) was sent to Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine) in 1936 with the Youth Aliyah. In August 1937 the family moved to Frankfurt, never relaxing their efforts to obtain emigration visas. Following the events of the November Pogrom ("Kristallnacht") and with the assistance of a Jewish community social worker, Esther Hollander, Michael was sent to Ireland in April 1939. He moved in with the Teller family in Dublin, where he stayed for the duration of the war. Some two years later, Michael's parents acquired visas to the US and reached America in the summer of 1941. When Michael completed his studies in Dublin in 1946, he was reunited with his parents in New York and enrolled in the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He immigrated to Israel in 1951 and settled in Kibbutz Gal-On. He married Jane (Yaffa) Zukerberg, and in 1958 they moved to Sde Warburg, where Michael worked in agriculture. He took up drawing again when he retired in 1991. His artworks have been displayed at numerous exhibitions, and are preserved in private collections in Israel and the US.