Objects

Illustration of a scene of cannibalism caused by the hunger prevailing among the Jewish population locked in the Warsaw Ghetto. This event was recounted by Marek Edelman in a conversation with Hanna Krall, published by the author in her book "Zdążyć przed Panem Bogiem" (Wrocław 1977). The lack of food among the Jews in the ghetto led to death by starvation, madness and acts of cannibalism. Here a crazed from starvation and despair figure of a naked mother is shown who, on the street, amidst silent witnesses – fellow ghetto inmates – bites off a piece of her son, who had died of starvation. "On 18 Krochmalna Street (ul. Krochmalna 18), a thirty-year-old woman, Rytka Urban, bit off a piece of her twelve-year-old son, Berek Urban, who had died of starvation the previous day. People surrounded her in the yard quietly, in complete silence. She had grey, tumbled hair, a grey face and demented eyes." MBK