It is not usual for a public museum to comment on burning news. Twice, however, the Museum of Art and History of Judaism (MAHJ) in Paris has published a press release concerning the family of the sculptor Chana Orloff (1888-1968), a family victim of the massacre committed by Hamas in Israel , October 7. “In an exceptional situation, an exceptional measure, judge Paul Salmona, director of the institution. We could not be left out of what happened in Israel, especially since we have deep ties with Chana Orloff’s grandchildren.”
On October 7, three members of Chana’s family, living on Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel, were killed by Hamas terrorists: Avshalom Haran, Evyatar and Lilach Lea Kipnis. Seven other members were taken hostage. After 50 days of captivity, six of them have just been released, which the Museum welcomes in a press release.
Beyond the solidarity expressed, the museum’s position creates a continuum between the Ukrainian pogroms of the 19th century and those of today. Raphaël and Rachel Orloff fled Ukraine in 1905, their house having been ransacked. With their eight children (including Hana who would become Chana, the sculptor), they headed to Ottoman Palestine. At the age of 22, the young woman chose to settle in Paris, where she became a known and recognized artist of the “School of Paris”. In Israel, his brother, Zvi, founded sports centers.
Chana notably had a workshop built at 7 bis, Villa Seurat, in which she lives and which houses her sculptures. But in the summer of 1942, she was warned that a roundup targeting Jews was imminent and that she and her son were on the lists. They quickly fled Paris and reached Switzerland clandestinely.
When Chana Orloff returned after the war, the 140 sculptures she had been forced to leave behind were stolen. The same year, his niece and her husband founded Kibbutz Beeri, which was the scene of one of the massacres of October 7. This is also where Chana spent her last days before her death on December 18, 1968.
“For many years, we have been in touch with the sculptor’s grandchildren, Ariane Tamir and Éric Justman,” says Paul Salmona, director of the MAHJ. They set themselves the goal of bringing their grandmother’s work and workshop to life. But also to recover the stolen funds. After 15 years of Franco-American procedures, they were given back a wooden sculpture, representing their father as a child. It has been on display at the Museum of Art and Judaism in Paris for ten days. It tells a tiny part of the great Jewish tragedy, which continues to continue.