Abraham Joseph Berline
1894-1942
Berline was born on 5 October 1894 in Niejine (the Ukraine). In 1912, at the age of 18, he emigrated to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He supported himself by driving a taxi and every place he saw figured in his landscapes. His work was highly regarded and exhibited at the most prestigious Parisian salons - Salon d'Automne, Salon des Indépendants - and in private galleries.
In May 1941 Berline was arrested in the Billet Vert operation and interned as a Russian Jew in Compiègne camp. While there he produced a number of landscapes and portraits. After seven months he was transferred to Drancy, and from there to the East - never to return. His works are included in the art collection of Beit Lohamei Haghetaot (the Ghetto Fighters' House Museum) and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine in Paris.
(Dr Pnina Rosenberg)
References
Memorial in Honour of Jewish Artists, Victims of Nazism. The Oscar Ghez Foundation, University of Haifa, no date.
Hirsh Fenster. Undzere Farpainikte Kinstler (Nos artistes martyrs). Published by the author, Paris, 1951.
Nos artists: morts victimes du Nazisme.
No. 4 ( F&eacut;vrier 1960), Association des artistes - peintres et sculpteurs juifs de France.
Miriam Novitch. Spiritual Resistance: Art from Concentration Camps 1940-1945 - A selection of drawings and paintings from the collection of Kibbutz Lohamei Haghetaot. Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1981.
Kenneth E. Silver and Romy Golan. The Circle of Montparnasse: Jewish Artists in Paris 1905-1945. The Jewish Museum, Universe Books, New York, 1985.
Seize peintres de Paris. Petit Palais, Genève, 1971.
L'Internement des juifs sous Vichy. Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine, Paris, 1996.
Coloured chalk on paper, 37 x 27
Inscribed (in French), lower left: Portrait de ZELDIN, remis par Kischka [Portrait of Zeldin, given by Kischka]. Signed and dated, lower right: A. Berline, Front Stalag 122, 1941
© Beit Lohamei Haghetaot
Museum Number 1695.
Donated by Isis Kischka, Paris, 1970
Coloured chalk on paper, 27 x 37 cm
Inscribed (in French), lower right: Barbelés a Compiègne par BERLINE, remis par KISCHKA [Barbed wire fences in Compiègne, done by BERLINE, given by KISCHKA]
© Beit Lohamei Haghetaot, Museum Number 1693.
Donated by Isis Kischka, Paris, 1970
Colored chalk, ink and watercolor on paper, 21.5 x 20.5 cm
Signed, lower left: A. Berline. Inscribed (in French), lower right: a compiègne 1941-42, rémis par KISCHKA, [in compiègne 1941-42, given by KISCHKA]
© Beit Lohamei Haghetaot
Museum Number 1694.
Donated by Isis Kischka, Paris, 1970
Colored chalk on paper, 27 x 37 cm
Inscribed (in French), lower right: Les 3 meules, par Berline, Compiègne 1941-42, certifié par KISCHKA, [Three haystacks, done by Berline, Compiègne 1941-42, certified by Kischka]
© Beit Lohamei Haghetaot, Museum Number 1690.
Donated by Isis Kischka, Paris, 1970
Coloured chalk on paper, 37 x 27 cm
Inscribed (in French), lower left, middle and right: Le mirador - Compiègne 1941 - par BERLINE, pastel par BERLINE, certifié par KISCHKA, [Watch Tower - Compiègne 1941 - done by Berline, pastel done by Berline, certified by KISCHKA]
© Beit Lohamei Haghetaot, Museum Number 1691.
Donated by Isis Kischka, Paris, 1970
Coloured chalk on paper, 27 x 37 cm
Inscribed (in French), lower middle: Les baraques dans le camp de Compiègne par BERLINE, certifié par KISCHKA, [Barracks in Compiègne, done by Berline, certified by Kischka]
© Beit Lohamei Haghetaot, Museum Number 1692.
Donated by Isis Kischka, Paris, 1970