On November 8, the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta hosted a special book talk and film screening honoring the life of Joseph Bau, a pioneering Israeli animator and Holocaust survivor. His daughters, Hadassa and Clila Bau, appeared onstage to recount their parents’ extraordinary love and sacrifice during the war.
Family History and Heroic Acts
Joseph and Rebecca Bau met while imprisoned at the Plaszów concentration camp near Krakow, Poland, where they secretly married. According to Clila, Joseph disguised himself as a woman to slip into the women’s barracks and exchange vows, with his mother performing the ceremony. Their wedding was later depicted in the 1993 film Schindler’s List.
Joseph survived the camp by using his artistic talents to create maps and signs for the Germans and by secretly forging identity papers to help fellow prisoners escape. After the war he worked as a document forger for Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad. Rebecca, meanwhile, served as a manicurist for camp commandant Amon Goeth, a position that gave her access to sensitive information she passed on to other inmates.
Selfless Sacrifice
When a list of prisoners was sent to Oskar Schindler’s factory, Rebecca persuaded Goeth’s Jewish secretary to allow Joseph to take her place, believing his artistic skills were more valuable to the war effort. Joseph was sent to Schindler’s factory while Rebecca was transferred to Auschwitz. Decades later, Joseph learned of his wife’s brave act during a 1990s interview.
After liberation, a severely underweight Joseph (weighing just 66 pounds) embarked on a desperate search for Rebecca, enduring missed train connections and a mistaken arrest as a suspected war criminal before finally locating her in a hospital.
Preserving Their Legacy
Today the Joseph Bau House Museum occupies the Tel Aviv studio his father founded in 1960, showcasing his artwork, animations, inventions, and the couple’s wartime experiences. A free exhibition of more than 40 of Joseph’s works is on display at the Jewish Community Center through December.
The museum, however, faces demolition of its current building. The Bau sisters are leading a fundraising campaign with an initial goal of $200,000 to fund a professional feasibility study and business plan for relocating the museum. “Only Clila and I keep the place going,” Hadassa said.
How to Help
Donors can learn more and contribute to the relocation effort through the campaign link provided by the sisters. Preserving this unique piece of Holocaust history and Israeli cultural heritage offers educational value for students, tourists, and the broader community.
Original reporting: SaportaReport — read the source article.
