Always remembered are the souls of those who did not survive; the paintings are a reminder to never forget, but also that life has gone on. In this way, Kempler’s art commemorates and is celebratory and accomplishes more than merely having provided her a method to artistically express and grapple with her experiences.
As you can see there is something both mystical and shocking about her work.
It is a reminder of time not so long ago. These paintings are the last testimony of a woman who saw the worst mankind has to offer. Let us never forget that evil exists, even as we celebrate the beauty of her work.
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In 1992 a friend of Chanele videotaped an interview with her about her war experiences. Like most of her paintings, it has never been published.
Interviewer: What are some of your earliest memories of the Nazi’s coming to Dej?
Chanele: The Germans came in right after Purim in 1944, and they came like animals. They took over our houses and made each family stay in just one room while they occupied the rest of the house. They molested people left and right, whomever they could, hitting and beating everyone. No one could go outside.
Ultimately we were taken to the Dej Ghetto in the Bunger Forest just outside the city; it was known as the Bunger Ghetto.
I was only 15, but I remember that the Dejer Rebbe’s daughter was visiting her grandmother in Krakow; she was about my age. She was there when everyone was suddenly rounded up and taken to the Krakow ghetto. The Nazis had to let her out because she was a Hungarian citizen.
When she got home to Dej, she told everyone what she saw. How they just shot and raped people openly. She told everyone what she saw, but nobody believed her.
Her family all ran away from the Dej ghetto and they were the only ones that survived. The rest of the people in the Ghetto were all killed.
How many people are we talking about?
How many people? Maybe ten thousand.
At one point in Auschwitz you had an encounter with Dr. Mengele.
Yes. He came over to where I was working and tapped me on the shoulder. When I looked up and saw who it was I dropped the tool that was in my hand. He looked at me and said I should continue working.
He was nice, so to speak?
The gentlest man you can imagine, a beautiful gentleman. He never took off his white gloves.
My friend told me how he saw him take a live baby, hold it by its feet and cut it in half, while still wearing the white gloves.
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Chanele Annie Kempler was from an area of Eastern Europe called Transylvania/Hungary or Romania, depending on the boundaries set by politics of the time.
In her interview, she identified her birthplace as Dej, a conglomerate of smaller cities that formed the greater geographic area. By the time Hitler came to power, Dej was part of Hungary. Although the country supposedly maintained “autonomy,” Hungary joined the Axis powers in 1940 and participated in the German invasion of Yugoslavia and the war against the Soviet Union. Most of Hungary’s Jews were spared deportation to German concentration camps until 1944; however, many in the Hungarian populace were zealous participants in Nazi anti-Jewish legislation and activities.
Although the Jews of Dej were at first allowed to remain in existing housing, their personal property was stolen, education was affected and businesses were confiscated. The Jews of Dej resorted to black-market trading and other practices to stay the course and to survive. Many Jews emigrated to neutral European nations or abroad.