Some 400,000 Jews were packed into the Warsaw Ghetto. Most were murdered in Treblinka. Among the very few who survived the Ghetto: Michael Smuss, who was born in 1926 in Gdansk. A simple twist of fate sent Michael, who was on a train headed for Treblinka and his certain death, to the ghetto of Lublin, and, from there, eventually to the concentration camp of Flossenbürg, Bavaria.
Going by the names “The Day God Was Absent”, “Fence of Life” and “Mutzen Up”, Michael Smuss’ paintings poignantly capture the agony of the concentration camps, as do his talks at schools in Germany and elsewhere. His talks vibrate with the sense of purpose and courage that enabled him to risk his life countless times during the Holocaust, during which he served as an arms runner and courier.