Abraham Berline

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Abraham Joseph Berline (October 5, 1893 – 1942) was a Ukrainian artist who lived in Paris. Born in Nizhyn, then part of the Russian Empire, he moved to Paris in 1912 to study at the École des Beaux-Arts, supporting himself as a taxi driver. His work was well regarded and shown at major Paris salons and galleries.

During World War II he joined the Resistance. In May 1941 he was arrested in the Billet Vert operation and imprisoned in Compiègne as a Russian Jew. He continued to create, mainly pastels of nature, hoping art could help him endure the camp. After seven months he was transferred to Drancy and then to Auschwitz, where he and his wife Doucia did not survive.

Berline’s works are held in the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum and the Musée d’Histoire Contemporaine in Paris.