Filed under: Active Decency | Tags: art, Auschwitz, Dina Babbitt, holocaust, Magneto, Testament, X-Men
Among Dina Babbitt’s friends and supporters during her lifetime were many artists, illustrators and cartoonists. In 2009, the people behind Marvel Comics depicted her story in one of their more popular graphic novel series, “X-Men, Magneto Testament.”
The story in that issue has been made into a video production and is now available on YouTube. You can see it for yourself here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Q-7_jLMs4
Filed under: Active Decency | Tags: art, Auschwitz, Auschwitz and Ethics, Dina Babbitt, Gypsy Portraits, holocaust, ICOM, Nazi, Roma Portraits
This site reaches its first anniversary on January 1, 2010 as a now international effort to have Dina Babbitt’s artworks returned to their rightful owners by the International Auschwitz Committee. Dina Babbitt fully deserved during her lifetime, recognition of her status as a human being to whom certain clearly defined rights are accorded by international agreement, and, allegedly, by the International Auschwitz Committee itself.
In spite of their stated, and apparently noble goals, the IAC has failed miserably in the pursuit of those noble-sounding ideals. Dina Babbitt was denied her rights by the original owners of the Auschwitz Camp. The current owners also refuse, as they have for over 36 years, to acknowledge Dina’s Human Rights by relinquishing her property. They CLAIM to recognize Dina Babbitt as a human being, but in keeping her works from her, their actions can only underscore the falsehood of those claims.
Through our words, we show the world only that which we wish the world to think we are. Through our actions we show the world who we truly are.
This pitiably blind group, the International Auschwitz Committee, has made itself the sole institutional heir to Hitler’s ideology that only those with power can define what is right and human. Both Hitler and the current IAC would maintain that the goals of the institution established at Auschwitz (whether the year be 1943, 1952 or 2010) are of paramount importance in making this world a better place.
Those goals may appear, through careful wording, to have changed over time but they have not. In essence, the IAC maintains that what was made at Auschwitz must stay at Auschwitz in order for the crimes committed there to be made right. And, there is no one better suited to define what is right than the administrators of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp/Tourist Attraction.
The art itself, 7 portraits of Gypsy Holocaust victims, was made by Dina Babbitt in her teen years while she was an internee at Auschwitz. Each of the persons depicted in the portraits was murdered soon after his or her portrait was completed.
It was the Nazi plan to demonstrate the racial inferiority of their victims and thus justify their monstrous humanity-denying practices. What happened to those victims was immaterial once the Nazis had what they wanted.
The International Auschwitz Committee, through its ongoing institutional behaviour is living proudly up to the standards established by Hitler and his cohorts. What happened to Dina Babbitt was immaterial to the International Auschwitz Committee once they had what they desired – Dina Babbitt’s possessions.
Due to the rigorous efforts of the International Auschwitz Committee, Dina Babbitt suffered for the rest of her life and died on July 29, 2009 without ever having enjoyed the benefits of what the United Nations calls its, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
Let us hope that by next year at this time, Mr. Hitler’s work at Auschwitz will have been stopped completely. Let us strive to see the International Auschwitz Committee live up to its mandate and Free Dina’s Art.
International Council of Museums, it’s your turn to say something now.
Filed under: Active Decency | Tags: Auschwitz and Ethics, Dina Babbitt, Gypsy Portraits, Human Rights, ICOM, Museums, U.N.
While awaiting further word from Paris on Dina Babbitt’s Gypsy portraits, it might be helpful to look at another issue recently discussed by the ICOM Ethics Committee.
The Committee met in October of this year and at least one of the issues on their agenda made headlines concerning international affairs. Here is a report from Taiwan News Online concerning ICOM’s take on museum artifacts and the importance of ethical provenance:
Taiwan News Online – October 28, 2009
The provenance of Dina Babbitt’s paintings does not support the Auschwitz Museum’s claims to ownership, and the decision to deprive her of her property is clearly both arbitrary on the part of the International Auschwitz Committee, and a violation of her Human Rights.
Those in support of Dina Babbitt’s Human Rights are waiting now for news from ICOM, and from the Auschwitz Museum.
Filed under: Active Decency | Tags: art, Auschwitz, Dina Babbitt, Gypsy Portraits, Human Rights, Poland
Thanksgiving Day 2009 has come and gone. Across America, people have pushed back their chairs, loosened their belts a notch or two, and thought of the things for which they are thankful – and of the things for which they would LIKE to be thankful.
Dina Babbitt had many thoughts of gratitude during the years she waited for the return of her property from the current administrators of the camp where the denial of her human rights began over sixty years ago.
Dina was particularly grateful for the USA and the freedom it offered her after her ordeal in 1940s Europe. She was grateful for her family and the security they could enjoy in a society that respects human beings and their universally recognized rights.
There was one thing, however, for which she would have liked to be grateful. Dina Babbitt longed for one thing that was not to be granted in her lifetime. She longed for the return of her possessions, for the respect of her own human right to possess the things she made and owned.
The small collection of Gypsy portraits forced from her hands under conditions of incomprehensible moral and ethical depravity, and now denied her by the museum administrators at Auschwitz and their protectors, were to haunt Dina Babbitt to the end of her days. All she asked for was the return of seven little pieces of paper that belonged to her.
The irony in her wish was that the very institution that tried to dehumanize her and to replace her name with a number, although eventually ‘liberated’ and turned into a museum, has maintained its underlying extremist ideology that the work carried out on the grounds of the Auschwitz camp is more important than the rights of any individual. This argument was in vogue when Auschwitz opened its doors for business and it remains in vogue today. That’s a bloody shame.
Someday, I hope to be grateful that human rights denial is no longer an official practice anywhere on the globe. For today, I am grateful that I do not understand humanity’s potential for evil to the degree that Dina Babbitt came to understand it throughout her life.
Filed under: Active Decency | Tags: art, Auschwitz and Ethics, Dina Babbitt, Human Rights, Morality, U.N.
Sixty-four years ago today, on October 24, 1945 the United Nations was born, kicking and screaming after 5 years of labour, and covered in the blood of innumerable innocents. More or less.
Today, these words from U.N. Headquarters:
“The United Nations is doing its utmost to respond — to address the big issues, to look at the big picture. We are forging a new multilateralism that can deliver real results for all people, especially those most in need.”
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Message on UN Day, 24 October 2009(Source: http://www.un.org/en/events/unday/2009/)
However noble we may perceive our cause to be, we are wrong to punish innocents in its name. The Museum at Auschwitz, in denying Dina Babbitt her property based on whatever arbitration, has performed an epic fail on moral, ethical and humanitarian levels.
As the United Nations enters its 65th year, I wish them all, each and every nation of them, only one thing – unity. It would be good if we could all see even briefly, through the eyes of those we victimize in the name of our particular ideologies. That would help unite the nations for sure.
Filed under: Active Decency | Tags: Active Decency, art, Auschwitz and Ethics, Dina Babbitt, ethics, Gypsy Portraits, ICOM, Museums, Petition
‘Enough good people’ not doing nothing…
Today, Edmund Burke might fret a little less about the triumph of evil, which he said needs only “…for enough good people to do nothing.”
Until recently, the Ethics Committee of the International Council of Museums, while aware of Dina Babbitt’s portraits and aspects of the controversy surrounding them, had not closely scrutinized Dina’s claim. (No one had asked them to, and the rest of the planet offers new ethical challenges daily, no doubt.) It appears now however, that something is about to change.
Perhaps ‘enough good people’ have written letters and signed petitions to bring Dina Babbitt’s Gypsy Portraits to ICOM’s direct attention, specifically to the attention of ICOM’s Ethics Committee. They have spent the last several months taking a closer look, it seems.
I have written to ICOM a few times myself, and have exchanged emails with only one person there, right from the start. Although I do not consider these messages to be official ICOM statements, I do consider them to contain information from the proverbial “reliable source”. I include them here so that the reader doesn’t have to rely on my possibly biased interpretation. Instead, you can read the letter for yourself and jump immediately to your own conclusions.
Essentially, my last letter asked for an assurance that with Dina’s passing, ICOM’s interest wouldn’t wane or get side-tracked. The response, I received very promptly.
Date: 28 September 2009 (23:50hrs/Aust)
To: Mr Tim Thibeault, Ottawa <XXXX@xxx.ca>
From: Bernice Murphy (Chairperson, ICOM Ethics Committee)
Re: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Vs. Claim of the late Mrs D G Babbitt
Cc: ICOM Director General, ICOM President, ICOM Secretariat
Dear Mr Thibeault,
I write to acknowledge your message of last Wednesday (23 September 2009).
It was with sadness that I learned of the death of Mrs Babitt recently, on 29 July, and condolences are due to her family and friends.
Mrs Babbitt’s claim for return of her works, and the position taken by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, will be discussed when the ICOM Ethics Committee meets in October, in Paris.
For various reasons, the Committee has not met formally since May 2008, although much work continues in the meantime by email and other channels.
I will respond to you after the Ethics Committee has had the opportunity to consider the case again, in the light of the most detailed research and recent advice we have been able to gather through our museum networks.
Sincerely,
Bernice Murphy
_________________
Bernice L. Murphy
Chairperson, ICOM Ethics Committee/International Council of Museums, Paris
What if there were a special day each year when all people were able to look objectively within themselves, and see clearly where they may have injured another person? And then, what if they did whatever was in their power to make amends for the bad things they had done? Wouldn’t that be nice?
If I were God, I’d be sure to include such a day in My calendar.
Filed under: Active Decency | Tags: Auschwitz, Dina Babbitt, Human Rights, ICOM, Museums, Roma Portraits, U.N., UNESCO
Research into the UN Human Rights Council complaints procedure indicates that a complaint will not be heard by the UN Human Rights Council while it is already being considered by another organization (such as ICOM).
So, another twelve weeks having passed, the appropriate course of action seems to be to write a follow up note to the Ethics Committee.
_________________________________________________________
September 23, 2009
Ottawa, Canada
Dear Mrs Murphy,
Another three months has passed, and I am writing to enquire if there has been any progress in ICOM’s investigation into the Auschwitz Birkenau State Museum and the portraits painted there by Dina Babbitt. More directly perhaps, I am seeking reassurance that this matter has not been allowed to fall aside, or diminish in importance, since the death of Mrs. Babbitt on July 29th this year. It remains a question of an ongoing Human Rights violation by a UNESCO endorsed institution.
As you may recall, it was Mrs Babbitt’s most heartfelt desire that her works should be returned to her own hands, “…the hands that made them…”, and then be passed on to her children and grandchildren since her interaction with the subjects of the portraits, and their individual roles in Dina Babbitt’s life story, constitute a vital part of her legacy.
I believe, Mrs Murphy, that the moments passed in the making of those portraits represented for Dina Babbitt, a sense of knowing powerlessness that is, mercifully, inaccessible to a majority of contemporary people. In a brief note to me in January of this year, Mrs Babbitt said, in part,”…But when I was refused to take my paintings home in 1973 at the museum, I felt as helpless as when I was a prisoner again…”
Can we honestly suppose that any institution should be so empowered? Is there any statement in any document from the UN, UNESCO, or ICOM that supports the right of the Museum to deprive Dina Babbitt of her property? I believe not.
I look forward to any information you can provide at this time and I thank you.
Sincerely,
Tim Thibeault
Ottawa, Canada
cc: Karin Babitt
cc: Michele Kane
cc: http://FreeDinasArt.wordpress.com
_______________________________________________________
Filed under: Active Decency | Tags: art, Auschwitz, Cognitive dissonance, decency, Dina Babbitt, Gypsy Portraits, Human Dignity, Human Rights, UNESCO
UNESCO Criterion under which Auschwitz enjoys “World Heritage” Status.
“Criterion (vi): be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal value.”
“Auschwitz – Birkenau, monument to the deliberate genocide of the Jews by the Nazi regime (Germany 1933-1945) and to the deaths of countless others bears irrefutable evidence to one of the greatest crimes ever perpetrated against humanity. It is also a monument to the strength of the human spirit which in appalling conditions of adversity resisted the efforts of the German Nazi regime to suppress freedom and free thought and to wipe out whole races. The site is a key place of memory for the whole of humankind for the holocaust, racist policies and barbarism; it is a place of our collective memory of this dark chapter in the history of humanity, of transmission to younger generations and a sign of warning of the many threats and tragic consequences of extreme ideologies and denial of human dignity.”
source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/31
Does anyone else see a source of cognitive dissonance in juxtaposition of the denial of human dignity experienced by Dina Babbitt as she was arbitrarily deprived of her property by the International Auschwitz Committee, with the spectacular display of Olympic-calibre rhetorical gymnastics in the above paragraph?
The shabbiest of behaviours can be dressed in the noblest of words; the naked truth is that the denial of respect for #61016’s Human Rights and Dignity constitutes the active and deliberate continuation of treatment she has received at the hands of all Auschwitz officials since Dina Gottliebova was first assigned a number in 1943.
I strongly disapprove of this.
I believe UNESCO needs to reconsider Auschwitz’s status as a World Heritage Site in light of the IAC’s ongoing violation of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
________________________________________________________
Further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Former_UNESCO_World_Heritage_Sites
Filed under: Active Decency | Tags: art, Auschwitz, Dina Babbitt, Final Solution, holocaust, Human Rights, Museums, Poland, President Lech Kaczynski, Roma Portraits
Give Them to Everybody
Although the current administration of Auschwitz, has seen the end results for Dina Babbitt, of one “Final Solution”, I would suggest that the question of de-accessioning and returning Dina Babbitt’s property (and human rights) has not yet been satisfactorily answered.
Since the true value of Dina’s work, as stated by the Museum’s own apologists, is in effect to prolong the memory of the Holocaust, why not just publish high-resolution copies of her work on the net?
Return the originals to their rightful owners and make copies available to the whole world.
That way, everyone who has heard Dina’s story will be able to see what all the fuss is about. Being only facsimiles behind a glass screen instead of originals, the experience of seeing Dina’s art, life-sized, on-line and behind glass, would be aesthetically identical to seeing high-resolution copies of the portraits behind glass at their current location in the Polish Abattoir of the Soul.
And, just to clarify the source of this ongoing tragedy, Auschwitz may have begun as a German sin, but it is now a one hundred percent Polish sin. (Is Lech Kaczynski a president, or a puppet?)
The seeds of Human Rights Abuse, planted in long-dead German ideology, have thrived and blossomed in 21st Century Polish ideology, nurtured by the recurring failures of the Polish Government and of ICOM to shake off ideological tyranny, and to comport themselves in a way that respects both humanity and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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You can find another way to practice active decency here, at Ed Cherniga’s very worthy art undertaking in Philadelphia, USA:
