Alicia Melamed Adams
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26 September 1927
Alicia Melamed
Alicja Mełamed [1]
Sir John Cass School of Art
Alicia Melamed Adams | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alicja Bianka Goldschlag 26 September 1927 |
| Died | 22 October 2022 (aged 95) London, UK |
| Other names | Alicia Bianca Melamed Adams Alicia Melamed Alicja Mełamed [1] |
| Education | Saint Martin's School of Art, 1963 Sir John Cass School of Art |
| Organisation | United Society of Artists |
| Spouse |
Adam Nathan Adams
(m. 1946; died 2020) |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | www |
Alicia Melamed Adams (née Alicja Goldschlag; 1927–2022) was a Polish painter and Holocaust survivor based in London.[2][3]
Alicja Bianka Goldschlag[a] was born on 26 September 1927 in Borysław, Second Polish Republic (present-day, Ukraine) to a Polish Jewish family.[4][3][5][6] Adams' father, Izydor Goldschlag (1885–1943), was petroleum engineer for the Vacuum Oil Company and her mother, Szarlotte Goldschlag (née Teicher; 1897–1943) was a designer.[3][4][6][7][8] Adams had one older brother, Józef (1923–1942).[5][7][8]
In the early 1930s Adams' father lost his job as a result of the Great Depression.[6] The Goldschlag family moved to live with her mother's family in Drohobycz (present-day Drohobych, Ukraine), whilst her father moved to Gdynia and started a fruit import business.[6][3] Adams first experienced antisemitism whilst living in Drohobycz.[6] Two years later the family relocated to Gdynia and in 1937 Adams' father started a business in selling oil mining machinery.[6] Following the outbreak of Second World War, Adams' father sent the family to Drohobych to live with her maternal grandparents.[6][3] Adams' father later returned to Drohobycz and worked at a local oil refinery.[6]
Adams was educated at the Polish gymnasium and studied drawing under Bruno Schulz, a family friend.[6][7] Following the annexation of Drohobycz into Ukrainian SSR, Adams joined the Young Pioneers.[6]
Holocaust
Occupation of Drohobycz
Following the occupation of Drohobycz in 1941, the Goldschlag family hid during the ensuing three day pogrom.[6] The family were forced into the Drohobycz Ghetto and Adams was forced to work carrying bricks on a building site by the Gestapo.[6][7][9] Whilst working at the building site Adams met Poldek Weiss whose father was a tailor for the Gestapo.[9][7] Adams was later forced to work as a cleaner for a Gestapo officer.[6]
In 1942, Adams' brother Józef died at Janowska concentration camp.[5][8] Adams and her family later lived and worked in a small recycling factory outside of the ghetto run by Viktor Kremin.[6]
Beskiden Labour Camp
On 24 July 1943, the family was transported to a local prison.[6] On 25 July 1943, Adams was released and transported to Beskiden Labour Camp by posing as the wife of Poldek Weiss, a forced labour at the Beskiden oil factory camp.[6][7] Adams' father and mother were shot on the 26 July 1943.[6][7]
Adams and Weiss were later transported to the Gestapo camp were Weiss's father worked, and managed to hide during the liquidation of the camp.[6] Adams and Weiss managed to escape and hid with a Ukrainian family.[6]
Following the liberation by Soviet Army, Adams lived with her uncle and the Weiss family in Drohobycz.[6] Adams later moved with the Weiss family to Wałbrzych.[6] Not wanting to marry Weiss and immigrate to Canada with the Weiss family, Adams moved to a nearby town to live with her uncle.[6]
London
In 1947, Adams and her husband temporarily moved Paris to prepare to immigrate to Israel, and for Adam Nathan Adams learnt to manufacture ties.[6][7][2][10] However, Adams became severely ill.[2][6][7] In 1950, Adams and her husband relocated to London.[2][6][7]
From 1960 to 1963, Adams studied at Saint Martin's School of Art where she befriended Fernando Montes and Lady Rachel Clay.[7] In 1963, Adams produced a series of paintings depicting her early life and the loss of her family and friends, which remained hidden in her studio until the 1980s.[7] Adams later attended Sir John Cass School of Art.[7]
In 1965, Adams joined the United Society of Artists.[7]