top of page

Max Linger – Ceux de Gurs

The Elsbeth Kasser collection comprises around 150 works - watercolours, drawings, photographs and objects - created by various artists, most of them Jewish, who were detained during the Second World War in the Gurs French internment camp at the foot of the Pyrenees.

 

The collection is a unique ensemble that was preserved intact for over forty years by Elsbeth Kasser (1910-1992) and is now in the care of the Archives of Contemporary History (AfZ) at the ETH Zurich. It can be borrowed for exhibitions and consulted digitally on site (see "Where can I find the collection?").

The Collection

  • The collection comprises around 150 items. Most are watercolours and small drawings. They give a glimpse of the harsh daily life in the camp. With modest means, the artists immortalised a variety of daily scenes, including life in the barracks, the distribution of meals, the mistreatment of prisoners by the guards, the desperate gaze through the barbed wire, not forgetting the preparations for deportation to the extermination camps.

    But the collection also bears witness to the astonishing vitality of the cultural life that nevertheless sprang up in these disastrous conditions: invitations to musical events, greetings and thank-you cards, humorous or sarcastic comic strips about life in the camps and impressive children's drawings expressing hopes and wishes.

  • Since 2007, the Elsbeth Kasser collection has been on permanent deposit at the Contemporary History Archive of the ETH Zurich. Together with the Elsbeth Kasser collection, it is available to interested members of the public and researchers.

     

    The images in the Kasser collection have been digitised in their entirety and can be consulted and searched online: Archives of Contemporary History

     

    To use the images in a publication or exhibition, a request must be sent to the Archives of Contemporary History: Contact form

     

    The AfZ houses other fonds of people who helped refugees in France and Switzerland, including those of Friedel Bohny-Reiter, August Bohny, Elisabeth Eidenbenz, Anne-Marie Im Hof-Piguet, Gertrud Kurz, Elsa Lüthi-Ruth, Emma Ott, Ruth von Wild and Charlotte Weber.

  • The drawings and watercolours were produced between 1940 and 1943 in the French internment camp at Gurs, where Elsbeth Kasser worked as a nurse. She acquired these works of art or received them as gifts. She managed to get them to Switzerland via a circuitous route. There, she kept them for over forty years in a cardboard box under her bed. Traumatised by the experiences of the war, she was unable to talk to anyone about these images.

     

    It was only towards the end of her life that she showed the photos to Danish friends. They recognised them as extremely valuable documents from the period and convinced Elsbeth Kasser to make them public. Thomas Bullinger, then director of the Skovegaad museum in Viborg, was responsible for organising the first exhibitions and giving the collection a format.

     

    Shortly before her death, Elsbeth Kasser entrusted Walter Schmid in her will with the task of setting up a foundation (1991). The Elsbeth Kasser Foundation was established in 1994, and the collection now belongs to it. In 2007, it was transferred to the Archives of Contemporary History at the ETH Zurich, where it is preserved by specialists and made accessible to the public.

  • Many artists were interned at Gurs: painters, musicians, theatre-makers and other intellectuals. Thanks to them, a sort of modest cultural life developed in the camp. Despite the extremely difficult conditions, people got together, organised evenings, concerts and readings, and even cabaret shows. The majority were German or Austrian intellectuals who had been deported to Gurs in 1940 as part of the deportation of the Jewish population of Baden, the Palatinate and the Saar.

     

    Among them were eminent artists such as Julius C. Turner, Kurt Löw, Carl Bodek, Karl Borg, Max Linger and Max Sternbach, whose works are now represented among many others in the collection.

    more information
  • Two illustrated catalogues document the collection:

    Gurs, un camp d'internnement dans le sud de la France 1939-1943, Schwabe Verlag, Basel, 2009. As well as a full list of images in German, French and English, the catalogue contains numerous life-size illustrations of the collection, as well as a number of introductory articles (source: Sandra Baumeler). 

     

    An earlier illustrated catalogue, now out of print, in German, French and English, presents the collection, including contributions by Elsbeth Kasser: Gurs, ein Internierungslager in Südfrankreich 1939-1943, Hamburg, 1993.

Elsbeth Kasser Collection 

Watercolours, drawings and photographs bear witness to a part of European history that we all have to come to terms with. The mission of the Elsbeth Kasser Foundation is to preserve the memory of what happened for future generations.

 

The 150 or so exhibits in the Elsbeth Kasser collection were created during the war years by artists who were detained in the French internment camp at Gurs between 1939 and 1943. They provide an insight into daily life in the camp and bear witness to the inhumane conditions in which they were created.

Julius C. Turner – French gendarmes and internees at a truck before deportation

Elsbeth Kasser

The collection is inseparable from the name of Elsbeth Kasser. Along with other Swiss citizens, she provided humanitarian aid in the French internment camps during the Second World War. Her work at Gurs was exemplary and made a major contribution to easing the lives of the internees. This was achieved not only through material aid, but also through the creation of daily and living structures and by encouraging a new will to live. It encouraged music and singing, teaching for children, theatre and other cultural events. The "Baraque du Secours Suisse" that she managed became an island of humanity in the midst of misery. Elsbeth Kasser was in close contact with artists, who entrusted her with their works, which today make up a unique collection.

  • Elsbeth Kasser was an impressive personality: the world events of the 20th century, with the horrors of the great wars and the Holocaust, left a lasting mark on the life of this young Swiss Red Cross nurse. She was born on 11 May 2010 in Niederscherli in the canton of Bern. She spent her school years with her parents and siblings in a presbytery. She then trained as a nurse.

     

    From 1936 to 1939, she went on a mission to Spain, where the civil war was raging. In 1940, she went to the south of France with a team from Secours Suisse and, with interruptions, carried out her mission in Gurs until 1943. From 1944 onwards, she took part in the evacuation of children from concentration camps in various locations. After the war, Elsbeth Kasser made a career change and set up occupational therapy at Zurich's Weid Hospital.

     

    After her retirement, she began to talk about her experiences at Gurs and, together with Danish friends, agreed to make public the photographs in her possession. At numerous exhibitions and events, she gave personal testimony to the horrors of the war and the Holocaust that she had witnessed at first hand. She died on 15 May 1992 in Steffisburg.

    more information
  • As a nurse, Elsbeth Kasser achieved extraordinary things during the darkest period of the last century, first during the Spanish Civil War and then in the Gurs internment camp in the south of France. In the midst of misery and distress, this courageous woman managed to help desperate people and offer them a little humanity and hope. Without fear or regard for her health, she exposed herself to great risks. She was although involved in conflicts with the Swiss Red Cross, which she felt did not commit itself courageously enough to helping persecuted people, even going so far as to forbid the rescue of Jewish children and adults in the name of neutrality.

     

    Her work at Gurs benefited the internees. Many people have expressed their gratitude in letters and paintings dedicated to her. Julius Turner's ink drawing is an icon. The internees and survivors never stopped calling her "the angel of Gurs". Elsbeth Kasser's commitment is an example to all the other courageous men and women from Switzerland who worked in the humanitarian field in the south of France.

  • The distress of men, particularly children, during the Second World War and, before that, during the Spanish Civil War, affected both Swiss men and women. The number of women who worked on behalf of these people is not insignificant. In many countries, women child welfare activists have worked for various organisations.

     

    Elsbeth Kasser was far from alone. She is remembered in particular for the fund-raising campaign that bears her name. But the work of many others who had fallen into oblivion was just as impressive. These include women such as Bethli Eidenbenz, Friedel Bohny-Reiter, Emmi Ott, Anne-Marie ImHof-Piguet, Regina Kägi-Fuchsmann and Mathilde Paravicini.

     

    Kanyar Becker, Helena (ed.): Femmes oubliées, aide humanitaire aux enfants et politique officielle des réfugiés 1917 - 1948, Basel 2010.

    more information
  • In the years 1940-1943, Elsbeth Kasser lived and worked in Gurs, France's largest internment camp. Her workplace was in a barrack at the end of a straight camp road. In the midst of suffering, distress, arbitrariness, humiliation and stagnation, this barrack became a haven of humanity, encounters, social contacts and cultural life. For the children, the barrack run by Elsbeth Kasser was a place of hope and normality, where they received not only extra food but also education.

     

    In the midst of the swamps and thorns, Elsbeth Kasser managed to create a vegetable and flower garden with help from the camp. And with the help of numerous volunteers, a kind of cultural life developed in her home. She even managed to salvage an old piano for the hut. Other humanitarian organisations have followed Elsbeth Kasser's example and have in turn brought some relief to people through this kind of action.

     

    Elsbeth Kasser's "Swiss hut" became a bright spot of humanity and hope in the camp, in the midst of the sadness of camp life. The many photos, invitation and thank-you cards, comic strips and personal notes in Elsbeth Kasser's collection bear witness to this.

    Kurt Loew (and Karl Bodek) – Elsbeth Kasser's hut and garden

Julius C. Turner – Portrait of Elsbeth Kasser

Kurt Loew and Karl Bodek – "... the day will come ..."

Exhibitions

Elsbeth Kasser's collection represents an important legacy in terms of contemporary history and art. Over the last few decades, the 150 or so works in the collection have been exhibited in whole or in part, first in Denmark, then in Switzerland, and since then in other parts of Europe. In all, more than thirty exhibitions have been held to date in five European countries. Each exhibition has been visited by several thousand people. Ancillary events, group visits and school tours have also attracted a great deal of interest. Exhibitions have often given rise to new publications and media contributions.

  • Die Sammlung wurde in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten gesamthaft oder in Teilen an vielen Orten im In- und Ausland ausgestellt. Eine erste Ausstellung fand 1989 in Viborg (Dänemark) statt, wo lose Blätter gezeigt wurden. Danach fand die Sammlung grosses Interesse in deutschen Städten, aus denen die Juden und Jüdinnen 1940 ausgewiesen und verschleppt wurden, unter anderem in Baden-Württemberg, im Saarland und in der Pfalz. Gezeigt wurde die Sammlung auch in Berlin, Paris und Südfrankreich. In der Schweiz wurde sie unter anderen in Genf, Zürich und Luzern einem breiteren Publikum vorgestellt.

    Ausstellungen in Deutschland, Frankreich, der Schweiz und jüngst in Spanien wurden zu einem wichtigen Bestandteil der Erinnerungskultur. Dabei spielten Zeitzeugen, meist in Verbindung mit Begleitveranstaltungen, eine wichtige Rolle bei der Vermittlung. Mit dem Ziel, das Gedenken wachzuhalten und aufzurütteln, standen die Ausstellungen ganz im Zeichen des «Nie wieder!». Mit der zeitlichen Distanz und dem Fehlen von Zeitzeugen haben einzelne Ausstellungen mittlerweile ihren Charakter etwas verändert. Vermehrt werden heute Teile der Sammlung zur Vermittlung spezifischer Themen genutzt.

    Die Exponate werden heute zusehends im erweiterten Zusammenhang von Krieg und Frieden, Humanität und Zivilcourage, Diskriminierung und Menschenrechten oder Rassismus und Antisemitismus in Ausstellungen integriert. Jüngst stiess die Sammlung in Spanien auf Interesse, das nach Jahrzehnten des Schweigens seine Geschichte aufzuarbeiten begonnen hat. 

    1989    Viborg, Skovgaard Museum

    1989    Pforzheim, Heimatmuseum

    1989    Konstanz, Universität

     

    1990    Mannheim, Jüdisches Gemeindezentrum

    1991    Hamburg, Institut für Sozialforschung

    1991    Rastatt, Bundesarchiv

    1992    Offenburg, Museum

    1992    Heidelberg, Universität

    1992    Karlsruhe, Stadtarchiv

    1992    Genf, Internationales Museum des Roten Kreuzes

    1992    Martigny, Fondation Moret

    1992    La Chaux-de-Fonds, Historisches Museum

    1992    Solothurn, Museum Altes Zeughaus

    1992    Berlin, Akademie der Künste

    1993    Paris, Mairie du 4e arrondissement de Paris

    1993    Hambach, Schloss

    1994    Bordeaux, Centre culturel

    1994    Sonderborg, Museum

    1995    Osnabrück, Museum für Geschichte und Kultur

    1997    Zürich, Löwenbräu-Areal

    2000    Toulouse, Musée départemental de la Résistance et de la Déportation

    2000    Neu-Ulm, Edwin-Scharff-Museum

    2000    Wertheim – Brombach, Bundesarchive

    2009    Luzern, Historisches Museum

    2010    Offenburg, Museum im Ritterhaus

    2010    Steffisburg, Altes Pfarrhaus

    2010    Speyer, Ratshaus

    2011    Baden-Baden

    2016    St. Gallen, Museum Lagerhaus

    2019    Pau, Musée des Beaux-Arts

    2020    Zaragossa, IAACC Pablo Serrano

    2022    San Sebastian, TELMO Museum

    2024    Pamplona, Palacio del Condestable,  

    2024    Estella, Casa de Cultura de Zizur Mayor

  • Since 2007, the Elsbeth Kasser collection has been on permanent deposit at the ETH Zurich Archive for Contemporary History. Together with the Elsbeth Kasser collection, it is available to interested members of the public and researchers.

     

    The images in the Kasser collection have been digitised in their entirety and can be consulted and searched online: Archives of Contemporary History

     

    To use the images in a publication or exhibition, a request must be sent to the Archives of Contemporary History: Contact form

     

    The AfZ holds other fonds of people who helped refugees in France and Switzerland, including those of Friedel Bohny-Reiter, August Bohny, Elisabeth Eidenbenz, Anne-Marie Im Hof-Piguet, Gertrud Kurz, Elsa Lüthi-Ruth, Emma Ott, Ruth von Wild and Charlotte Weber.

     

    Archives of Contemporary History, EPF Zurich

    Hirschengraben 62, 8092 Zurich, www.afz.ethz.ch

    Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

    Telephone: +41 44 632 40 03, afz@history.gess.ethz.ch

  • The originals in the collection, insofar as they are individual sheets, are permanently mounted in master cartons and are kept in this form at the AfZ in Zurich.

     

    Depending on their number and format, there are 90 solid interchangeable frames in the 50 × 65 cm format and 10 interchangeable frames in the 50 × 38.5 cm format in the Foundation's warehouse. The frames can be securely packed and shipped in suitable transport crates.

     

    For displaying bound papers (Dr Barach's diary, notebooks, small loose maps, photographs, etc.), there are two table-top display cabinets suitable for frames.

     

    Other display equipment in the repository:

    Touch screen with computer / fact monitor

    Thematic panels with copies (for simple travelling displays)

    Remains of the 1st catalogue / Secunda

     

    In addition, the repository contains a musical instrument, a banjo, which appears to have been made and played at Gurs.

     

    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND REQUESTS

    info@elsbeth-kasser.ch

bottom of page