Ester Lurie

Born in Liepaja, Russian Empire, in 1913. Died in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1998.

“In the very first days of the Ghetto, Esther Lurie set herself a wide-ranging aim: to preserve for posterity, by means of artistic drawings, the scenes and human types in the Ghetto, which are of value for Jewish history.”

Avraham Tory, Surviving the Holocaust. The Kovno Ghetto Diary, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachussetts-London, England, 1990, p. 437

Ester Lurie (1913-1998), Self-portrait, Kovno Ghetto, 1941-1944

Ink on paper
10.1X8 cm

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of Avraham and Pnina Tory (Tory Collection), Israel

Ester Lurie (1913-1998), Dr. Avraham Tory, Kovno Ghetto, 1942

Lawyer. Secretary of the Ältestenrat in the Kovno Ghetto (June 1941- November 1943).
Born 1909 in Lazdijai, Russian Empire. Deported to the Kovno Ghetto in 1941. After the war, lived in Israel, where he died in 2002.
Ink on paper
15.3X9.2 cm

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of Avraham and Pnina Tory (Tory Collection), Israel

Ester Lurie (1913-1998), Dr. Chaim Nachman Shapiro, Kovno Ghetto, 1942

Lecturer of Semitic Studies. Head of the Educational Department of the Ältestenrat in the Kovno Ghetto.
Born 1900 in Krynki, Russian Empire. Deported to the Kovno Ghetto in 1941. Murdered with his wife and children in December 1943, at the Ninth Fort.
Ink on paper
11.5X8.3 cm

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of Avraham and Pnina Tory (Tory Collection), Israel

Ester Lurie (1913-1998), Yehuda Zupovitz, Kovno Ghetto, 1943

Civil engineer. Assistant Chief of the Jewish Police in the Kovno Ghetto.
Born 1916 in Jonava, Russian Empire. In 1941, deported to the Kovno Ghetto. Murdered in March 1944 at the Ninth Fort, for his participation in the Ghetto underground resistance.
Ink on paper
10X7.5 cm

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of Avraham and Pnina Tory (Tory Collection), Israel

Ester Lurie (1913-1998), Dr. Yakov Abramovitz, Kovno Ghetto, 1943

Physician. Judge in the Jewish Court and later Deputy Chief of the Jewish Police in the Kovno Ghetto.
Studied medicine in Montpellier and Paris. Following his visit to his family in Kovno, he was deported to the ghetto in 1941. In 1944, escaped with wife and daughter and hid in the countryside. After the war, returned to Kovno. In 1973, immigrated to Israel.
Ink on paper
9.6X8 cm

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of Avraham and Pnina Tory (Tory Collection), Israel

Ester Lurie (1913-1998), Moshe Abramovitz, Kovno Ghetto, 1943

Commander of the Kovno Ghetto Fire-Fighting Brigade.
Ink on paper
10.5X9 cm

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of Avraham and Pnina Tory (Tory Collection), Israel

Ester Lurie (1913-1998), Wolf Lurie, Kovno Ghetto, 1943

District prosecutor. Director of the Airfield Department in the Kovno Ghetto.
Deported to the Kovno Ghetto in 1941. In July 1944, he and his family attempted to poison themselves. His son died immediately, whereas he and his wife were shot to death the next day due to their refusal to leave the house.
Ink on paper
10.4X8 cm

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of Avraham and Pnina Tory (Tory Collection), Israel

Ester Lurie (1913-1998), Maria Finn from the Kovno Ghetto, Stutthof Camp, 1944

Born 1900 in Vilkaviskis, Russian Empire. Deported to the Kovno Ghetto and later to the Stutthof Concentration Camp, where she was murdered in 1944.
Pencil on paper
10.7X7.5 cm

Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem