Bau: Artist at War

A classic memoir that is both an inspiring true love story and a historical espionage thriller, Bau: Artist at War comes at a critical moment when the last survivors of the German concentration camps are dying and the Holocaust is slipping from memory.

In a memorable scene from Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List, viewers the world over witnessed the clandestine marriage of two Jews in the Plaszow concentration camp: Joseph and Rebecca Bau. At once a tale of horror and beauty, Bau: Artist at War is one man’s memoir of a miracle: the bloom of love in the depths of a Nazi concentration camp.

Full of stories and drawings depicting, among other scenes, the bombing of Krakow, Bau’s brother’s daring exploits in the ghetto, the unspeakable brutality of the camps, and the harsh last days at Schindler’s factory, this is the true story of number 247 on the men’s section of Schindler’s list. With artistic irony and elegance, Bau balances the grimness of events with the humor and resiliency that helped him and his wife survive, and allowed their love triumph against all odds.