Four Generations Gone in One Night
#37, Auschwitz Album Revisited Oil Painting by Dr. Pat Mercer Hutchens Biblical faith reveals generational lines all the way back to Abraham, our father in the faith. Abraham begat Isaac. Isaac began Jacob, etc. That lineage includes the Promised Messiah, still to come for most Jews, coming again for most Christians. Genealogists trace heritages with…
From Cattle Car to Crematorium
#29, Auschwitz Album Revisited Oil Painting by Dr. Pat Mercer Hutchens According to figures supplied in 1943 by the Central Construction office, four crematoria could incinerate 4,416 bodies within 24 hours; 1,440 bodies in crematoria II and II each and 768 bodies in crematoria IV and V each, while plans were made to build more…
Good Night, You Prince of Judah, You King of Israel
#9, Auschwitz Album Revisited Oil Painting by Dr. Pat Mercer Hutchens Many times I heard my mother say,”Always remember when you speak to a child – you never know who you are talking to.” She would go on to say something like “You may be speaking to a child who will find the cure for…
Ha Motzei Lechem
#22, Auschwitz Album Revisited Oil Painting by Dr. Pat Mercer Hutchens Imagine whole families being dragged at gunpoint from their homes, marked with yellow stars, herded into a train, and only to arrive at the killing fields of Auschwitz. In large canvas-like bags hanging heavy from their shoulders, were probably some pictures and a few…
Effo Abba?
#36, Auschwitz Album Revisited Oil Painting by Dr. Pat Mercer Hutchens Mother holds the hand of her toddler while her young daughter leans into her other side. They are already cut off from those with whom they started out the trip – her husband, the girls’ father, parents, brothers, sisters, and other family members. The…
He Ain’t Heavy
#32, Auschwitz Album Revisited Oil Painting by Dr. Pat Mercer Hutchens This obviously much older woman is carrying her grandson, a handsome young child with a beautiful camel hair coat, emblazoned with a yellow star so all would know he is Jewish. Any young mother knows how hard it is to bear the weight of…
Destruction of the Young and Disabled
#23, Auschwitz Album Revisited Oil Painting by Dr. Pat Mercer Hutchens Imagine surviving the horrors of any war and accidentally finding a small album of photos from your home town. Then add to that miracle that the book turned out to be the only known document of the Nazi horrors of WWII. But there is…
Despised and Rejected of Men
#40, Auschwitz Album Revisited Oil Painting by Dr. Pat Mercer Hutchens These two moms and six children wear the yellow stars they were forced to wear back in the ghetto. All are huddled together, after being ordered into the “not fit for work” line. From man’s point of view, they were despised and rejected. They…
Brought As Lambs to the Slaughter
#33, Auschwitz Album Revisited Oil Painting by Dr. Pat Mercer Hutchens In the Spring and Summer of 1944 alone, 450,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered in Auschwitz. Of that group, 75% were women and children and upon arriving were sent to their death immediately. From the time they got off the cattle cars until they were…
Ben Aaron
#19, Auschwitz Album Revisited Oil Painting by Dr. Pat Mercer Hutchens This young boy, quietly standing alone holding onto his mother’s coattail and almost hidden among several well dressed women, is no ordinary child. Impeccably dressed in what looks like a tailor-made coat, he has a clean shaven haircut and sidelocks (payot). As soon as…