In the organizer's words:

Lecture by David Haas

David Haas, grandson of Bedřich Fritta, uses rescued paintings to report on the course and tragic end of the so-called "painters' affair"

The artists of the painters' workshop from the so-called "Theresienstadt ghetto" were forced to paint euphemistic pictures to conceal the suffering of the Jewish prisoners. After their deportation, they were forced to participate in the Nazi propaganda apparatus.

The highlight of the deception was the visit of a commission of the International Red Cross in 1944. In the run-up to this investigation, the artists had to take part in a "beautification campaign" of the camp. The ghetto was redesigned to give the commission the impression of a small, cozy provincial town.

However, the artists of the painting workshop, which was led by Bedřich Fritta, tried to draw the world's attention to the atrocities committed by the National Socialists by secretly drawing scenes of everyday life in the ghetto. The pictures were smuggled abroad with the help of guards. Among the hidden works was a touching children's book that Fritta had made for the birthday of his three-year-old son Tomáš. But the activities of the painters' workshop did not go unnoticed.

Leo Haas, a colleague and friend of Fritta's, was the only one of the artists involved to survive. After the war, he rescued his friend's estate, found his son Tomáš and adopted him. In doing so, he kept a promise he had made to Fritta in Auschwitz.