Artists Adopt Survivors
Artist’s Statement: Arnold Gatoff
"Butterflies are Free"
Butterflies are free! Free to grew and to develop into the wonderful creatures they are. For me, the Butterflies are metaphors for the souls of children.
My first panel represents a period of time from 1933, the year Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, to 1938, the year Kristallnacht took place.
During that period of time, citizenship was taken away from the Jews by the German government (1935). Jews were prevented from going to school and from working at meaningful jobs. They were disenfranchised from German society.
This time period is characterized by anti-Semitism, discrimination, persecution and abuse.
This was a gray, drear time. Even the sun and sky appeared gray and dreary. Our collective heart was sad and gray. The Butterfly was damaged.
Panel two represents the period of time beginning with Kristallnacht and ending with the overthrow of Hitler, the German military and the German government in 1945.
This period saw the mass murder of 6 million European Jews and the physical and psychological damage to millions more. “The very stones wept.”
Red, gray and black dominate the palate. The Butterfly is mutilated – the sky is red with flames and with spilled Jewish blood.
Panel three represents the summer of 1945, the Nazi armies were defeated. The concentration camps and the death camps were liberated by the allied forces.
A new Butterfly appears that is “whole.”
Once more, the Butterflies are free and colorful. Once more the sky is blue, the sun is yellow and the grass is green. The heart beats red and healthy!