Doris Pollatschek

Doris Pollatschek (born February 14, 1928 in Barmen ; † March 13, 2002 in Berlin ), at times also performing under the names Nora (Doris) Pollatschek-Geitner and Doris Reuel-Pollatschek, was a German- Israeli artist and also a breeder of Kanaani cats .

Life

Ceramic column - location in Berlin-Lichtenberg , Herzbergstrasse

Of Jewish origin, Doris Pollatschek was shaped early on for her whole later life: by fleeing with her parents from Germany in 1934, the subsequent life in emigration (in Spain, France, Switzerland) with constantly changing residence and the loss of the one in Germany remaining grandparents, uncles and aunts who were murdered in the course of Nazi persecution . In 1942 she began an apprenticeship as a potter near Friborg in Switzerland . In 1946 the family returned to Germany, first to Frankfurt am Main , then to Dresden , where Doris Pollatschek studied sculpture at the Dresden Art Academy from 1950–1956 . From 1956 Pollatschek worked as a freelance sculptor in East Berlin. In 1974 the political difficulties that had already existed at the beginning increased, which meant that she did not receive any public commissions as a sculptor. So she started working with ceramics . In 1981 she managed to legally leave the GDR and moved (in her own words "18th move") to the Israeli capital Jerusalem . A loan from the publisher Axel Springer enabled her to buy a studio there. Since then she has lived as an artist and mother cat in Jerusalem, interrupted by occasional stays for health reasons in Berlin-Steglitz , where she owned an apartment. But she also came to Germany for the opening of exhibitions of her works, as in 1995 to Wuppertal .

She has been married twice and has two children.

Her grave is in the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee .

The father Dr. Walther Pollatschek (1901–1975) was a publicist, critic, writer, editor of the Aufbau Verlag, editor of the works and curator of Friedrich Wolf's estate . A younger sister of Doris Pollatschek is the Germanist Silvia Schlenstedt .

Works

Sculpture in Berlin-Johannisthal

Doris Pollatschek began painting and kneading small figures as a child. She later worked as a potter, sculptor, graphic artist and writer. Her work is permeated by the experiences of restlessness, persecution and annihilation in the Shoah , of suffering from separation and the longing for closeness and humanity, of the recollection of characters, stories and visions of the Hebrew Bible. Her sculptures and sculptures have been exhibited in many countries (in addition to East and West Germany, including Holland, Switzerland, Israel, USA). Her hobby was breeding Kanaani cats. A new species of cat was named after her as Doris Pollatschek . Below is a selection of her artworks.

Bronze work

• 1957: Young couple , set up in Berlin-Johannisthal , Hagedornstraße / Allmersweg green area
• Standing woman wrapped in a cloth
• Woman sitting on rocking chair with her lap dog
• 1975: mother with child
• Lurking cat
• Lying cat
• Crouching woman
• Saskia
• 1981: In terra pax , bronze relief as a triptych
• Hugging couple , cast bronze by Barth from Rinteln, only 9.5 cm high
• Standing young girl with pigtails

Relief faience and ceramic sculptures

• Ceramic column (see picture); The work represents a symbolic globe on a stand designed like a candle and was set up in 1984 in front of the then culture house of VEB Elektrokohle Lichtenberg . The vacancy of the building after 1990 and vandalism on the work of art resulted in a severe risk. The district office let the column house in 2012 and overgrown by the surrounding bushes. With the sale of the entire site to Dong Xuan GmbH, the pillar came to the new owner. It is still unclear whether it will be restored and put up again when the culture house is converted into the Dong Xuan House from 2014.

• In the town hall of Rheda-Wiedenbrück
• Pictures of the Flood story in the Nikolaikirche (Heilbronn)
• Triptych for Auschwitz in the St. Anne's Church in Berlin-Dahlem

Details on the triptych for Auschwitz

Triptych for Auschwitz in Berlin-Dahlem

This is a much discussed work by the artist. In addition to the Dahlem triptych, there is a second, slightly different copy of it in the Liesborn Abbey Museum . In it, scenes of medieval three-winged altarpieces are recreated and updated on three ceramic reliefs assigned to one another . A crucifixion scene can be seen in the middle section . A person hangs on the cross with a Star of David pinned to his chest. At the foot of the cross, next to a woman dying screaming, three Christian clergymen are drinking tea. On the right wing a person is scourged - brown men beat a man dressed in black who has a Torah scroll on his chest. The left wing is about the entombment - prisoners push a naked body into a fiery furnace. The artist does n't primarily want to show the terror of the Holocaust , but the inactivity of the church. Not Christ is crucified, but a Jew - whose crime it was not to be King of the Jews, but a Jew. The work of art was criticized from the Catholic side, especially its installation in a Protestant church. The clergy shown in the middle section can be clearly identified as Catholic by their clothing, namely as a prelate , bishop and religious. The depiction was interpreted by the critics as a one-sided assignment of blame. A reply in the community paper of the Evangelical Church Community in Berlin-Dahlem confirmed with allegations against Pope Pius XII. rather the criticism. The explanation of the triptych for visitors to the church was subsequently revised to clarify, but the work was left in its place.

Publications

Her literary works include children's books that she illustrated herself ( Das Märchenkind Sabine 1964, from which a radio play was also designed, Immer ich together with Konrad Golz 1966, which was also translated into Swedish and Finnish, and Sundus and the oat-yellow dog 1989). In addition, she wrote the screenplay for the film Käthe Kollwitz : Seeds should not be ground (1967).

Exhibitions

• 1979, Berlin (GDR) in the studio gallery of the State Art Trade of the GDR
• 1993, Hamburg in the church St. Jacobi
• 1995/96, Wuppertal in the old synagogue
• Ceramic objects in the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam

literature

• Jessica Hoffman, Anja Megel (authors), Robert Parzer, Helena Seidel (eds.): Dahlemer Memories . Frank & Timme Verlag for Scientific Literature, ISBN 978-3-86596-144-0 , p. 100/101: Description of the triptych
• State Art Trade of the GDR - Studio Gallery (Editor), Rainer Behrends (Editor): Doris Pollatschek - Small sculpture made of bronze and clay (Exhibition Berlin (GDR) 1979), Studio Gallery, Berlin (GDR) 1979 (= workshop profiles; 19)
• Letter from Doris Pollatschek from Stein am Rhein to Hermann Hesse ; Hesse archive under Ms 84
• Erich Spier: Jewish Passion: Doris Pollatschek's "Triptych" . In: Berlin-Brandenburgisches Sonntagsblatt , April 19, 1992
• Hartmut Pätzke in: Hannelore Offner, Klaus Schroeder (eds.): Delimited - excluded: Fine arts and party rule in the GDR 1961–1989 . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-05-003348-7 (Stud. Research Association SED State , Free University of Berlin)
• D. Eisold (Hrsg.): Lexicon artists in the GDR . New Life Publishing House, Berlin 2010

Web links

Commons : Doris Pollatschek  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• art
• Photo of the artist, short biography and information about her Kanaani cat breed
• Kanaani cats association for pedigree cats

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The father Walther Pollatschek describes this time in the children's book Three Children Come Through the World , first published by the publishing house Die Wende in 1947 and reprinted by the children's book publisher Berlin in 1950.
2. ^ Matthias Baun: Drama about a comedy: The ensemble of SED and State Security, FDJ and Ministry of Culture around Heiner Müller's "Die Umsiedlerin" . Chr. Links Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-86153-102-X ; here: p. 30: Doris Pollatschek on the performance of the comedy. Retrieved December 18, 2009
3. ↑ ^{a b} Factory exhibition in the Old Synagogue in Wuppertal 1995, accessed on December 18, 2009
4. ↑ List of works by Walther Pollatschek ( Memento of the original dated February 22, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 18, 2009 
5. ↑ Martin Debes: The woman has the cat virus, like all of us. Doris Pollatschek bred the first new breed of cats in Germany since 1945 . In: Berliner Zeitung , October 15, 1999
6. ↑ Illustration of the group of figures. ( Memento of the original from October 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Sculpture in Berlin, accessed December 18, 2009  
7. ↑ Illustration of the 21 cm tall sculpture in the gallery on Gendarmenmarkt .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 18, 2009  
8. ↑ Lotissimo auction portal. Retrieved December 18, 2009
9. ↑ Lotissimo auction portal. Retrieved December 18, 2009
10. ^ Offer of the bronze relief. Dannenberg auction house; Retrieved December 18, 2009
11. ↑ Auction offer. Retrieved December 18, 2009
12. ^ Offer of the bronze relief auction house Dannenberg; Retrieved December 18, 2009
13. ^ Sculptures, monuments, fountains in Berlin. Lichtenberg. 1993 catalog ; Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein; P. 50
14. ↑ Info on art in the town hall Rheda-Wiedenbrück: Here stayed ; Retrieved December 18, 2009
15. ↑ Justification  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) in community letter 02/2007, pp. 1–2.  
16. ↑ P. Lothar Groppe: Of course, Christ is not scourged in these pictures . Detailed polemics on the triptych in the village church, published 2006; Retrieved December 18, 2009
17. ↑ Illustration of the book
18. ↑ Always me (Swedish) libris
19. ↑ Always me . amazon, accessed December 18, 2009
20. ↑ title buecher.de; Retrieved December 18, 2009
21. ↑ From a human point of view . ( Memento of August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Hamburger Abendblatt , November 13, 1993; with reference to the exhibition by D. Pollatschek
22. ^ Jewish Museum