Pavel Fantl (1903-1944), Metamorphosis, Theresienstadt Ghetto, 1944, Watercolor

Pavel Fantl was born in Prague. He studied medicine and served as a doctor in the Czech army. In 1942 he was sent to Theresienstadt, where he worked as a doctor in the local hospital. During the years of his internment there, he clandestinely drew many satirical pictures describing daily life in the ghetto, as a result of which he was deported to Auschwitz, where he perished in 1944.

In "Metamorphosis", which Fantl drew on Christmas Eve, he cynically describes the changes experienced by the Theresienstadt inmate over a space of four years. The drawing is a kind of mini-film, reminiscent of the comic strip, and describes how as the years pass, a ghetto inmate's body becomes skinnier, his clothes shabbier, his belongings, which hang in a bundle on the wall, diminish until nothing remains. Only the facial features of the portrait - the nose and mouth - remain constant, as does the yellow star: his Jewishness causing his bitter fate. The Christmas tree and candles which appear in 1941 gradually disappear, so that by 1944, all that remains are one leaf, and burnt-out candles, symbolizing the loss of all hope. In 1944, the artist is left with nothing. In spite of his satirical style and his humor, Fantl does not succeed in concealing his feeling that on Christmas Eve of 1944, his end, and that of those around him, is near. Indeed, only a few months after he put these thoughts to paper, he was sent to the crematoria of Auschwitz.