Auschwitz Watercolors Lawsuit Overlooks Roma Victims' Rights

(MENAFN- USA Art News) A decades-long ownership dispute between the family of late Holocaust survivor Dina Gottliebova Babbitt and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum over seven watercolors depicting Roma prisoners has resurfaced. The dispute recently culminated in a California lawsuit, initiated by Babbitt's daughters 17 years after her death.

These watercolors were created under duress, as Dr. Josef Mengele, known as the“Angel of Death,” ordered Babbitt to paint the traits of Roma prisoners for his pseudo-scientific experiments, aiming to prove their supposed racial inferiority. Babbitt produced the portraits to save her own life and that of her mother. All Roma individuals compelled to pose for these portraits were later executed.

The discussion surrounding the ownership dispute has often failed to consider the rights and dignity of the Roma people depicted, killed, and largely forgotten. While Babbitt, who moved to the United States and had a prolific animation career, sought to reclaim the watercolors until her death in 2009, her deep desire for them was evident. In a 2009 interview, she described a visceral need to hold them again and frequently attempted to recreate the paintings from memory.

A Roma woman and scholar emphasized the ethical implications, noting that the Roma prisoners were posed by Mengele in anticipation of their deaths, as part of an experiment designed to degrade their humanity. Yet, these individuals are frequently discussed as the least important party in the ownership debate. Roma Holocaust victims have received minimal acknowledgment or restitution, a period often referred to as the“Forgotten Holocaust.” The Nazi regime killed an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 Roma people during what they call the Porajmos, meaning“the Devouring” in Romani, although some scholars suggest the true number is higher due to insufficient documentation.

News coverage, including a recent New York Times article, has been criticized for referencing Roma victims only in passing, failing to engage with their loss and injustice. The names of most Roma prisoners in the watercolors remain unknown, with the exception of one woman Babbitt identified as Celine in a 2006 NPR interview. Additionally, a video from 17 years ago featured a journalist casually referring to them as“the Gypsy faces,” a derogatory term that perpetuates stigma. While some reporters now avoid this pejorative term, a lack of comprehensive understanding of Roma people and history persists.

The long-term consequences of this history continue to shape the reality for Roma communities, who live across Europe, the United States, and other regions. They frequently face marginalization, scapegoating, and economic and social exclusion, experiencing daily acts of discrimination, mockery, and hostility. Despite Mengele's horrific intentions, Babbitt's watercolors captured the profound humanity of these individuals. An elderly woman's defiant gaze, a middle-aged man's dignified yet prematurely white hair, and Celine's determined and dreamy expression all evoke powerful human stories.

One non-Roma friend expressed being deeply moved by the humanity of those portrayed, imagining the watercolors becoming part of a dedicated Roma collection in a museum. Regardless of the legal outcome, the focus must be on disentangling the watercolors from the barbaric experiment, offering peace and justice to Babbitt's heirs, and restoring dignity to the Roma subjects whose lives were tragically cut short.

Source: Hyperallergic

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