Holocaust and Rebirth (Kibbutz Nezer Sereni, Israel)

Batia Lichansky

1965–1968

Kibbutz Netzer Sereni was established by Holocaust survivors from the Buchenwald concentration camp. In fact, its original name was Kibbutz Buchenwald. It is now named for Enzo Sereni, an Italian Zionist leader. “Netzer” means a new shoot, as in the biblical verse: “But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse; a twig shall sprout from his stock” (Isaiah 11:1). This idea, of a new branch sprouting from the stump of a tree, was the inspiration for Batia Lichansky’s monument. Atop a twisted branch that looks like it has been felled by lightning, the figures of men, women, and children climb upwards, faces turned to the sky.

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Credits

Photo: “PikiWiki Israel 41120 Spohn Farm in kibbutz Netzer Sereni,” by Dr. Avishai Teicher, Pikiwiki Israel. Used under a (CC BY 2.5) license.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 9.

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Post-Holocaust Jewish Cultural Spaces

1945–1973

Postwar Jewish communities created new spaces globally, as American Jews moved to suburbs, Israel established sovereign spaces, and a new European Jewish identity emerged.

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Visual and Material Culture in the Mid-Twentieth Century

1939–1973

Jewish visual art flourished and diversified in the postwar period, reflecting the social and political transformations taking place in the world.

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