Art and designאלזה פולק

Elsa Pollak

Elsa Pollak was an Israeli sculptor and Holocaust survivor, known for depicting the victims of the Holocaust in her art.

1910 to 2006Sculptures of Holocaust victims"The Pit" memorial in MinskThe exhibition "Auschwitz 5170"

Born: 8 December 1910, Markušovce
Died: 20 April 2006, Herzliya
Occupation: sculptor

Elsa Pollak was born in 1910 in Markušovce

Elsa Pollak was born in the village of Markušovce in Slovakia. In 1944 she was deported to Auschwitz with her whole family and given the number 5170. She was the only one of her family to survive.

She took part in the death march from Auschwitz. She was liberated at the Lenzing labor camp in Austria.

After World War II she studied sculpture in Vienna with the sculptor and painter Kurt Goebel. In 1962 she moved to Israel and settled in Herzliya.

Her art drew on her experiences in Auschwitz. With the Belarusian artist Leonid Levin she created "The Pit" memorial, at the site where the Nazis shot about 5,000 Jews from the Minsk ghetto. Her exhibition "Elsa Pollak: Auschwitz 5170" is a permanent exhibition at the Ghetto Fighters' House, and her sculpture on the book burning stands at the Beit Haedut museum in Nir Galim.

In 1991 she received the Sussman Prize from Yad Vashem for artists depicting the Holocaust. She died in 2006.