Felix Nussbaum

Felix Nussbaum was a German-Jewish surrealist painter whose work provides a glimpse into what it was like to be a victim of the Holocaust. Nussbaum studied as a painter under multiple tutors before getting into into the Berlin Academy of Arts. After the Nazis gained control of Germany, Nussbaum went into exile in Belgium before being arrested in 1940 and sent to the Saint-Cyprien camp in France. Nussbaum and his wife Felka were later transported back to Germany, and ultimately to Auschwitz in 1944. Felix Nussbaum’s final years were spent in concentration camps before his death at Auschwitz on August 9, 1944. He created two of his most acclaimed works during this time in captivity: Self Portrait with Jewish Identity Card, and Triumph of Death.