download:Corley 2010 JAHA pdf-2
Journal of Aging, Humanities, and the Arts, 4:262–275, 2010
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1932-5614 print/1932-5622 online
DOI: 10.1080/19325614.2010.529392
A Tale of Three Women: Holocaust Experience
and Transformation through Creative
Expression and Engagement
CONNIE CORLEY
School of Human and Organizational Development, Fielding Graduate University, and
School of Social Work, California State University, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
Gene Cohen notes the power of creativity in managing adversity
(2000), lifting its emotional darkness and even contributing to
physical healing. A model inspired by three Hungarian women
artists who survived the Holocaust (Experience/Expression/
Engagement) is illustrated through their experience of the Holo-
caust, their creative expression well into their later years, and the
impact of their work on engagement of self and others. The poten-
tial for creativity in later life, and the impact of creativity on
healing and transformation is discussed and illustrated by the
creative contributions of three survivors and their enduring legacy.
KEYWORDS arts, creativity, creative expression, engagement,
healing, transformation, Holocaust, legacy, generativity
PRELUDE
Early in November 2009, as I was putting the finishing touches on my sym-
posium presentation for the upcoming Gerontological Society of America
(GSA) conference—which was imbued with quotations from The Creative
Age (Cohen, 2000)—a friend and mutual colleague of Gene Cohen called to
tell me that he had passed away. I was stunned. How could that be? It was
only about a year earlier he gave an inspiring presentation to participants
gathered for a remarkable day of spirituality, creativity, and aging at the
National Cathedral, and only a few months before that I had a wonderful
Address correspondence to Connie Corley, School of Social Work, California State
University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA. E-mail:
ccorley@fielding.edu
262
Holocaust Experience and Transformation of Three Women 263
opportunity to hear him speak and spend time with him as he became a
Creative Longevity and Wisdom Fellow with Fielding Graduate University.
So, my GSA presentation became dedicated to Gene Cohen’s legacy,
and this article is a tribute to him. As a leading figure in research on arts and
aging, Cohen and collaborators have demonstrated that active participation
in the arts substantially contributes to the well-being of older adults (Cohen,
2006). Here, I share case studies of three astounding women, whose lives
embraced the arts in story and images as they each navigated the trauma
of the Holocaust in Hungary, their lives after the war, and their respective
journeys to the United States.
Now in their later years, these women continue to share their creative
expression of life experiences and bring hope to many in their later years.
Their collective energy has inspired the Experience/Expression/Engagement
model which aims to help us understand the process in which: (1) life
experience spurs creative expression, (2) the art and writing stimulates further
engagement of self and others, and (3) this social engagement results in further
generativity. This model expands from the level of the individual to wider
circles, ultimately engaging communities and contributing an enduring legacy.
INTRODUCTION
In a study of Holocaust survivors led by Dr. Roberta Greene with John
Templeton Foundation funds, 133 U.S. survivors were interviewed for
“Forgiveness, Resilience and Survivorship among Holocaust Survivors”
(Greene, 2010). As one of the co-investigators, I interviewed and coordinated
interviews of California Holocaust survivors, and I was profoundly impressed
by two participants in particular—their artwork and their urge to create and
share widely their Holocaust and post-Holocaust experiences. In the process
of engaging in the data collection and analysis, my exploration of the cre-
ative process led me to meet other Holocaust survivors who were also artists,
some of whom began creating their art well into their later years of life.
Three Holocaust survivors—their life experiences, artistic expression,
and expansive engagement of self and others in this generative process—are
the focus of this article. All three are women who originally lived in Hungary
and departed at distinctly different times. Elizabeth Mann and Eva Kolosvary-
Stupler have engaged in visual art since early life, and their compelling work
in paintings, sketches and assemblage (Eva) have informed many audiences
of the lifelong effect of early trauma as well as the creative force that has
enhanced their survivorship in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Erica Leon
began painting and drawing following her emigration to the United States in
her eighth decade of life. Her illustrated memoir, Her Story in History (Leon,
n.d.) has inspired people of all ages to recognize that creative potential can
be unleashed well into the later decades of life. All three, in addition to
264 C. Corley
their art, have shared their life stories as speakers in Los Angeles and in
recordings (e.g. Erica Leon’s story is archived in the U.S. Library of Congress
American Folklife Center as part of the StoryCorps project; under the name
Eva Kolosvary, her Hungarian name, Eva Kolosvary-Stupler’s testimony is
part of the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation Institute
Archives).
In this article, theoretical contributions and life story dimensions are
presented that inform the Experience/Expression/Engagement model illus-
trated through specific examples of the three artists. A summary, conclusion,
and a reflective postlude follow.
THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTIONS
As the field of gerontology has burgeoned since the end of World War II,
an interest in creativity in later life is emerging. The Experience/Expression/
Engagement model draws on the work of Rollo May, Gene Cohen, Helen
Kivnick, and Glenn Elder over the last few decades. Briefly, their specific
influences are reviewed.
In Rollo May’s treatise on creativity, The Courage to Create (1975), he
states, “Creativity is the encounter of the intensively conscious human being
with his or her world” (p. 54). May’s observation of painters is that their
underlying psychological and spiritual conditions are revealed in relation to
the outer world. This reinforces the emerging area of research on the value
of images, which can evoke stories and allow for more holistic communi-
cation (Weber, 2008). Hence the link of “experience” and “expression” in
the model are precursors to the dimension of “engagement” of others in the
creative process, which among Holocaust survivors becomes a healing task
in the later years.
Gene Cohen’s book landmark book, The Creative Age: Awakening
Human Potential in the Second Half of Life (Cohen, 2000) and ground-
breaking collaborative studies on active participation in the arts describe
how creativity encourages people to express and share life experiences, and
to engage others in remembrance. In The Creative Age, Cohen describes
an example of one Holocaust survivor who told his story for the first
time to a middle-school class, and they all were moved to tears by the
end of his presentation. This paralleled the experiences of many sur-
vivors in the Templeton study (Greene, 2010), who wished to leave a
legacy:
Speaking about our experiences is very important especially today con-
sidering that humanity didn’t learn much from our experiences and there
are genocides going on right now. Yes, it is very important that we speak.
(Cohen, Meek, & Lieberman, 2010, p. 537)
Holocaust Experience and Transformation of Three Women 265
Several later life phases postulated by Cohen (2000) relate to the inte-
gration of the inner experience of the Holocaust with the outer expression
and engagement of family members and communities by survivors. During
the “Summing Up” phase of later life, Cohen suggests that the desire to
find larger meaning in the story of one’s life “motivates people to give
of the wisdom they have accrued throughout their lives” (Cohen, 2006,
p. 9). Following “Summing Up” is the “Encore” phase, where lasting con-
tributions are made in late life; this epitomizes the urge of many survivors
to remind people that the Holocaust is not to be forgotten. The postula-
tion of these later life stages supports the “engagement” dimension of the
Experience/Expression/Engagement model for beyond expression of expe-
rience, Holocaust survivors contribute to the universal legacy of triumph in
the struggle over oppression: providing enduring testimony through words
and images.
Situating the dimension of “engagement” as an important extension
beyond the individual “experience” and “expression” is supported by several
theorists. First, as part of the life course perspective, Elder (1999) states that
the life course is constructed by individuals through their choices and actions
taken within the opportunities and constraints of historical time and social
circumstances. For Holocaust survivors, there is still an opportunity to remind
and engage people of all ages to acknowledge the horrors of war and the
resilience required to endure it, survive its aftermath, and go on to lead
a productive life. Second, Kivnick et al. describe a parallel concept, “vital
involvement, which is defined as ‘purposeful activity,’ the circular mechanism
through which individuals exercise capacities and make contributions of value
to the world and to themselves, and through which they are influenced and
changed by that world” (Kivnick, Stoffel, & Hanlon, 2003, p. 40). The creative
expression coming forth from the life stories of Holocaust survivors reflects
their generativity, which continues well into the later years of life.
This power of story to engage others is encapsulated in this quote
referring to programs such as the Holocaust Survivor Centre in London,
which provide a forum for elder survivors to contribute
. . . an institutionalized form of memoralisation. Their testimonies will be
kept for posterity, and there will be no fear that their suffering will be
forgotten. They are not only actively involved in the Holocaust Survival
Centre, but act as educators, and take on a political role in warning
others about the rise of fascism. They dispel many of the myths related
to the elderly generally, and turn on its head the idea that the old should
be looked after and die quietly. (Hassan, 1997, pp. 127–128)
Through my contacts with three Holocaust survivors from Hungary,
individually and at their presentations/exhibits, I have been inspired to share
their stories at conferences, in publications, and in my teaching. In turn, they
266 C. Corley
have fueled the development of the Experience/Expression/Engagement
model (3E) generated by observations of how their life experiences are
translated into creative expression, which engages others in their creative
process and fuels further generativity into widening circles of influence.
Following a brief introduction to the three artists, their contributions to the
development of the 3E model are presented.
THE ARTISTS
Erica Leon
Born in 1921, Erica was engaged at the age of 17 to the late Robert (Bob)
Leon. Bob left Hungary just before World War II started and eventually came
to America, and through an amazing set of circumstances Bob and Erica
ended up marrying 53 years later. As Erica states, “I was 17 when we were
engaged, and 70 when we married!”
In more detail describing the Experience/Expression/Engagement
model, Erica’s life experiences, creative expressions and engagement of stu-
dents, members of her retirement community and the Holocaust survivor
community in Los Angeles are discussed. To give a glimpse into how these
elements come together, we consider a sketch from her life story, Her Story
in History (Leon, n.d.). It tells the story of her escape to the site of her
eventual freedom at the end of the war (Figure 1).
Erica was spared being rounded up and sent to the ghetto, when she
cleverly took a bandage from a prior injury and wrapped it around her leg
as the Nazis burst in to the apartment where she was hiding. It would have
meant certain death if she was part of the evacuation, but perhaps fearing
she had something contagious, the Nazis left her behind. Her goal was to
get to the Red Cross hospital (in the background of Figure 1), where her
first husband was sent from a labor camp.
In the foreground of Figure 1, Erica is seen in a phone booth, clutching
a book to hide her yellow star marking her as a Jew. It is dusk at the time,
and any Jew caught after dark would surely be shot. And yet, if she went
to the hospital door she might also be captured. Taking her chances in the
hopes of being with her husband, she ran to the hospital and an amazing
thing happened. The guards let her in—they were Jews who had stolen Nazi
uniforms!
So, in the final days of the war, Erica lived in the basement of the hos-
pital, barely eating, hiding under a box when the Nazis would come looking
for Jews in hiding. This picture represents just one of many remarkable
stories that Erica has to tell of constant danger and creative solutions—in
words and in images. She has inspired many people of all ages with her
story and embellishment in her art, as demonstrated and detailed in the
Experience/Expression/Engagement model.Holocaust Experience and Transformation of Three Women 267
FIGURE 1 Sketch by Erica Leon from Her Story in History (Leon, n.d.).
268 C. Corley
Elizabeth Mann
Elizabeth’s urge to create dates back early in life, for example, when she
tied hair to matchsticks to create a paintbrush. After surviving concentration
camps and labor camps before ending up in Sweden after liberation, one
of her first requests when hospitalized was art materials. She drew sketches
of her experiences, which she has kept to this day. Another keepsake was
a photo of her parents who perished in the Holocaust; from this photo-
graph she made their portrait, which now hangs in her gallery at home.
One haunting image Elizabeth painted from the Holocaust is a woman in a
shawl, whose eyes express the sorrow and agony of loss. Yet, other scenes
are bucolic—representing no one place in particular according to Elizabeth,
but often having birds flying off in the distance. A (former) graduate student
interprets the birds as a sign of hope and freedom.
Elizabeth is a regular presenter at the Museum of Tolerance in Los
Angeles and has spoken innumerable times at other museums and in
classrooms across Southern California. She has a cabinet full of letters of
gratitude from those who were profoundly moved by her story; some have
even created works of art for Elizabeth. Even though her hands shake
and she can no longer write, she continues to paint. Her work has been
exhibited at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (see more in the
Experience/Expression/Engagement model).
Eva Kolosvary-Stupler
Best known for her work as an assemblage artist, Eva has adapted to various
medical challenges and taken up other media such as colored pencils in
an anatomically-inspired series after multiple back surgeries. One powerful
piece, reflecting the horrors of mass extermination during the Holocaust,
is Eva’s assemblage “Arbeit Macht Frei.” Translated as “Work Makes You
Free,” these words (often over the gateway to concentration camps) form
an arch over a discarded fuse box. Each door of the fuse box opens to
piles of skeletons, representing the ovens at the extermination sites. This
work was one of two assemblages chosen for an exhibit commemorating
the Armenian genocide in Glendale, California in 2009, and is discussed
further in the Experience/Expression/Engagement model.
Although Eva believes she would have created art regardless of whether
or not she experienced the Holocaust and the Communist era in Hungary,
she finds it helps her manage life’s pain. In one review of a retrospective
exhibit it is noted:
Her work is autobiographical, and the survivor element is a major com-
ponent of her art. In her life, she has suffered through physical pain,
surgeries, war, anti-Semitism, oppression and displacement. Yet she is
Holocaust Experience and Transformation of Three Women 269
very direct in communicating her anguish and sharing her essence
though her art. (Burnes, 2007, p. 3)
In an essay on “The Transformation of Loss: The Art of Eva Kolosvary-
Stupler,” Clothier (2007, p. 4) observes that “the assemblage art of Eva
Kolosvary-Stupler is essentially an act and a re-enactment—of recovery and
survival. . . . it resonates with the depths of the human soul and the soaring
of the creative spirit.”
THE EXPERIENCE/EXPRESSION/ENGAGEMENT MODEL
The Experience/Expression/Engagement model (3E) emerged from over
two years of immersion in the art and life stories of the three women
(Erica/Eva/Elizabeth) who survived the Holocaust in Hungary and ultimately
came to reside in Los Angeles.
As shown in Figure 2, each cycle of the model enlarges over the pre-
vious cycle. Metaphorically, the model works like a telescope, where the
FIGURE 2 Experience/Expression/Engagement model (Corley).
270 C. Corley
view from a distance is enlarged in scope. From left to right, it represents
how building on the individual’s life experience, creative expression, and
engagement of self and others in the process expands in depth and magni-
tude over time, offering universal messages of hope and possibility, as well
as an enduring legacy. Various creative expressions, primarily of Erica Leon,
are used to illustrate the model, with each component of the model noted
in parentheses.
Erica spent months in hiding and narrowly escaped being sent to con-
centration camps during the final year of World War II in Hungary. She was
fortunate to be saved through the intervention of Swedish diplomat and
humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg, who saved the lives of tens of thousands of
Jews (A1).
Following the end of the war, Erica remained in Hungary with her
first husband, and together they raised their son there. In 1990, several
years after her husband’s death, Erica visited her first fiancé, Robert Leon
(Bob), whom she had not seen since 1938. Within days they decided to
marry. Bob lived in Los Angeles and taught art at a local retirement com-
munity. It was there that Erica took up painting, and on her annual trips
back to Budapest to visit her son, she would make sketches that she
used to paint many beautiful landscapes of Budapest when she returned
home (B1).
Upon returning from her last trip to Budapest in 2001, after being
“grounded” on 9/11 and unable to return to Los Angeles for five days, Erica
was determined to write and draw, not only about her experiences of the
Holocaust, but about her entire life story. By this time, Erica and Bob had
moved into the retirement community where Bob had worked, and many of
the residents and their families took great interest in reading Erica’s book.
The love story of Erica and Bob also became the subject of several television
interviews (C1).
Feeling affirmed by growing interest in her art and experiencing a sense
of agency, Erica expanded the scope of her painting to include landscapes
of other parts of Europe and in California (A2). She contributed her oral his-
tory to a StoryCorps project on immigrants (http://storycorps.org/) and at the
age of 88, Erica had her first art exhibit at the retirement community where
she lives (B2). Through her participation in a national study of Holocaust
survivors, students from different academic institutions connected with
Erica and one (Randall Bell) was moved to create a YouTube production
about her (available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhsnyHFO6tI),
which reveals her uplifting philosophy of life in spite of adversities
she has faced throughout nearly 90 years of life (C2). Another (former)
student notes: “The amount of trauma Erica experienced and survived
is unreal—decades later, Erica demonstrates her will to live and to give
life and hope through her art” (Oteka Macklin, personal communication,
August 4, 2010).
Holocaust Experience and Transformation of Three Women 271
Erica’s desire to share her experiences more widely led to her donating
a painting to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH) and hav-
ing her book, Her Story in History (Leon, ND) become part of the Museum’s
archives (A3). Along with Elizabeth Mann, Erica participated in a symposium
on the national study of Holocaust survivors led by Roberta Greene (2010):
“Holocaust Survivors: Stories of Resilience,” held at LAMOTH in 2009 (B3).
The audience heard her perspective on the Holocaust and viewed a selection
of her paintings. Erica’s life is now part of a wider legacy of resilience among
Holocaust survivors (Corley, 2010; Greene, 2010), and her presence has left
a lasting impression on many of all ages, including numerous students from
diverse communities of Los Angeles, who interviewed her for course assign-
ments (C3). Many of these students are immigrants from countries where
some of their ancestors were refugees from oppressive regimes, and were
inspired by Erica’s story to learn more about their own family histories.
An African American woman in her 30s who also met Erica Leon and
Elizabeth Mann in their homes and attended the Holocaust symposium
in Los Angeles shares the following: Unlike my previous experiences
during my childhood [feeling anger and fear watching World War II
documentaries and visiting a Holocaust museum], my time spent with
Ms. Leon and Ms. Mann left me with feelings of hope and optimism
about the ability of aging people to survive tragedy. Creative expres-
sion that gave voice to events, emotions, and memories too painful
to describe or comprehend was born out of the incredible losses suf-
fered by these two women. Creativity, therefore, became (and remains)
a vehicle for remembrance, forgiveness, and existence. (Oteka Macklin,
personal communication, August 4, 2010)
The sense of connectedness to universal human experiences is epito-
mized in the choice of two of Eva Kolasvary-Stupler’s assemblages in 2009
for the exhibit, “Man’s Inhumanity to Man: Journey Out of Darkness.” Part of
a commemorative event around the time of the Armenian Genocide remem-
brance in Glendale, California, the exhibit was intended to educate viewers
about a broad range of historical tragedies in the hope of preventing them
in the future. “Arbeit Macht Frei” described earlier was one of the pieces
chosen. One reviewer of another of Eva’s exhibits notes: “she transforms
common things into new cultural treasures with a new magic and spirituality
for our own time and for the future” (Canty, 2010).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
In spite of illnesses and physical challenges each woman endures, some
dating back to the war and early childhood, the urge to create persists.
272 C. Corley
Following surgeries resulting in limited mobility, two of the women found
ways to continue their creative expression through changing media (e.g.,
Eva expanded to sketches to compensate for the physical demands of assem-
blage work). Rather than being seen as frail and declining, these women are
regarded as inspiring.
Hence, the experience of connection with others through art is accom-
panied by healing. As noted by Malchiodi (2002), “By sharing your creative
spirit in a larger community, you extend your artistic wisdom to others in
positive and transformative ways while healing yourself” (p. 193).
By re-engagement with a larger community, wounding from trauma
becomes a source of strength for those who suffer now and can help pre-
vent suffering in future generations (R. Yakimo, personal communication,
August 3, 2010). As the Experience/Expression/Engagement model illus-
trates, sharing and connecting with others in larger circles of influence can
have a widespread impact.
Among the outcomes and enduring legacy of the life experiences of the
three artists—which include surviving the Holocaust—are the hundreds of
testimonials Elizabeth Mann has delivered at museums and universities, Eva’s
testimonial in the USC Shoah Foundation Institute database and her many
art exhibits, and Erica’s StoryCorps recording archived at the U.S. Library
of Congress as well as her memoir, Her Story in History (n.d.) archived
at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. A play was written about
Erica reuniting with Bob in a youth literacy project called “Through the
Ages” in Los Angeles and performed at the retirement community where
she lives. Through the sharing of the individual life experiences of these
three women, greater meaning is derived, and collectively their creative
contributions, which highlight persistence through life’s challenges, inspire
people of all ages.
The artistry of Erica, Elizabeth, and Eva provides a visual narrative that
contributes to scholarship on the incorporation of images in understanding
life story (Corley, 2010; Weber, 2008). One artist who has met two of the sur-
vivors, and who herself is a painter, notes the following about her own art:
I paint myself as a way to recapture my existence as I have no pictures
from my childhood or adolescence. I paint myself into existence as an
affront to those who tried to destroy me. Each painting is a part of me
that reflects back the reality of my existence. (W. Hamachi, personal
communication, August 12, 2010)
The work presented here can contribute to the development of theo-
ries in gerontology, which to date have largely overlooked creativity and its
enhancement of well-being through art. For example, there are no entries
under “art” or “creativity” in the seminal volume, Handbook of Theories
of Gerontology (Bengston, Gans, Putney, & Silverstein, 2009). Additionally,
Holocaust Experience and Transformation of Three Women 273
in Social Gerontology: A Multidisciplinary Perspective (Hooyman & Kiyak,
2008) it is noted: “Much of the research on creativity has been performed as
analyses of the products of artists and writers, not on their creative process
directly” (p. 199). The process of transforming life experience into forms
of expression that engage self and others illustrates the capacity for growth
across the life course, as illustrated in the experiences of Holocaust survivors.
It is anticipated that through the Experience/Expression/Engagement
model, new modalities which promote creative expression among older
adults and new venues for sharing their experiences and engaging larger
audience will emerge. For example, Malchiodi (2002) suggests forming cre-
ativity and wellness groups in small communities, which could easily be
extended to programs where older adults congregate as well as creating
opportunities for intergenerational sharing.
The Experience/Expression/Engagement model has been discussed in
light of the power of art to heal, to inform, and to address negative stereo-
types about older adults. It reinforces the groundbreaking work of Cohen
(2006) by addressing the “conceptual sea change in aging” and exemplifying
the later life developmental processes explored by Cohen (2000) and Erikson
(Moody, 2009), which include generativity and leaving a legacy. The three
visual artists presented are in their late 70s to late 80s in age and continue to
produce and exhibit new works. Their collective works contribute toward
understanding survivorship, resilience, healing from trauma, and promoting
global awareness of the long-term impact of genocide.
Managing adversity through creativity via the specific example of the art
of Holocaust survivors has implications for incorporating creative modalities
in working with survivors of trauma at large. As noted in Soul’s Palette:
Drawing on Art’s Transformative Powers for Health and Well-Being:
Through creative expression and imagination we naturally find ourselves
developing new stories for life experiences and discover that we are
awakened to something beyond pain, suffering, and illness . . . Artistic
expression is one of our elemental tools for achieving psychological
integration, a universal creative urge that helps us strive for emotional
well-being. (Malchiodi, 2002, pp. 9, 11)
At a time when there are growing reports of denial that the Holocaust
ever occurred (e.g., among leaders of countries with a long history of
anti-Semitism), it is all the more imperative that work be conducted and
disseminated that informs students, professionals and the public at large
about the long-term consequences of intolerance and oppression. Yehudit
Shendar (2010), Deputy Director of the Museums Division at Yad Vashem
(2010) and curator of the 2010–2011 exhibition called “Virtues of Memory:
Six Decades of Holocaust Survivors’ Creativity” notes:274 C. Corley
Art is that most subjective of creative forms, but in the survivors’ art
we glimpse a truth that we—being removed from the events—may not
otherwise be able to fathom. Each of the works is the voice of an individ-
ual; combined, they present a powerful ensemble, whose commanding
expression of truth and memory calls out to us all.
POSTLUDE
As noted by Susan Perlstein, longtime collaborator of Gene Cohen, “The
need for creativity never ends” (Perlstein, 2006, p. 5). The enduring legacy
of Cohen’s work and inspiration is a call for further exploration of the
capacity of the human spirit to engage in what is uniquely human: cre-
ative expression. The emerging body of theories and models that contribute
to a more expansive view of the untapped potential for growth in the later
years creates a more positive image of aging. Because the world population
is increasingly an older population, developments in the realm of creativity
and aging are welcome, and necessary.
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