Feder Adolphe (1885 - 1943)

Feder Adolphe(1885 Odessa - 1943 Auschwitz).

Féder was born in Odessa to a family of Jewish merchants. 1905, he joined the Bund, a Jewish workers' organization which supported the failed 1905 Revolution. Because of Féder's involvement with this group, he was forced to flee the country. He went to Berlin and studied art there. He went to Geneva, living there 1908-09 and studying at the city's art academy. 1910, Féder went to Paris where he studied and worked for two years at the Academie Julien and at Henri Matisse's informally organized art school. He was considered one of the Ecole de Paris artists seen frequently at the Rotonde café in Montparnasse, and in 1912 his works were exhibited at the Salon d'Automne. Féder loved the landscape of the South of France, which appears in many of his paintings. His works were favorably reviewed in Paris by such art critics as Gustave Kahn and he was commissioned to illustrate several books, including a book of poetry by Arthur Rimbaud. 1926 he traveled to Palestine, where he worked for several month the returned to Paris. With the outbreak of war, Féder refused to leave Paris and joined the underground.

He and his wife, Sima, were betrayed to the authorities and arrested on June 10, 1942. They were imprisoned at Cherche-Midi and in September 1942 Féder was sent to and interned at Drancy. Féder drew many portraits of his fellow inmates, some of which his widow donated to the Ghetto Fighters' House art collection.

December 13, 1943 Féder was deported from Drancy to Auschwitz, where he died.