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Holocaust Memorial Education Center

Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center

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Descendant Profile

DAVID GOTEINER

DAVID

GOTEINER

SECOND GENERATION 

DESCENDANT:

DAVID GOTEINER, ARTIST

  • DESCENDANT brief BIOGRAPHY AND ARTIST STATEMENT OF HOLOCAUST STILL LIFE BY DAVID GOTEINER, SON

    David Goteiner immigrated to the United States in 1948 at the age of 18 months from Mannheim, in what was then the American Sector of occupied Germany. His interest led him into the sciences at Stuyvesant High School in New York City and biology at Brooklyn College. He received his dental and specialty training at Columbia and Harvard. He is currently a practicing periodontist in Chester, NJ and a Clinical Professor at Rutgers University School of Dental Medicine. He has published widely in his professional periodontal field.

    David’s love of the arts developed at an early age prompting him to take courses that challenged him in various mediums. Then in 1982 he met Anatoly Ivanov, then a recent Russian immigrant and a highly regarded painter. He has been studying with the artist ever since. When he is not working or teaching at the university, he can be found happily engrossed behind his latest canvas painting with Anatoly twice weekly.

     

    ARTIST’S STATEMENT: HOLOCAUST STILL LIFE

    In homage to Samuel and Beatrice, David Goteiner’s survivor parents and his best friend’s survivor parents.

    Furrier’s knife, object of best friend’s parents.

    Amzel and Kompel label that sold fur coats, object of best friend’s parents.

    Ghetto work permit, object of best friend’s parents.

    Bergen Belsen One Mark Note (Mother’s) so she could buy a mirror and comb. (Refer to photo of historic one mark note in Related Media)

    Mother’s soup spoon. My mother was on a transit train going between camps during liberation when it was bombed. They allies bombed the first and the last cars so the train couldn’t run. My mother escaped and there was looting and she saw the spoon so she could eat. That’s all she wanted.

    Spoon (2nd) from memory of David’s father drinking coffee.

    Songbird (missing a talon) symbol of Samuel, David’s father who lost the middle finger of his right hand to a sniper April 14, 1945 two weeks before the war ended.

    Child’s Photograph of best friends’ brother who died on a forced march in 1943 age of 10 (child survivor)

    Tree stump ground has faces in the wood of all “the people I’ll never know,” my aunts and uncles who perished.

    Siberian forest sets the background where my father fled during the war.

    Bread represents my mother who has many stories about importance of bread in her life.

  • DESCENDANT SUBMISSION(s):

    For Descendant Submission, Select "Interview" Above with David Goteiner

    INTERVIEW WITH DAVID GOTEINER, ARTIST

    Date: May 12, 2021

    Location: SSBJCC Holocaust Memorial and Education Center

     

    Q: What would you say is your artistic muse?

    A: I’ve been taking lessons since 1982 with Anatoly Ivanov who lives in Bridgewater.  I took art courses in high school, college, in the army and night school, but they were amateur, not serious. I seriously took it up in 82. Anatoly is my mentor and good friend.  I guess you could say he’s been my muse. I still take lessons twice a week with Anatoly.

    Q: Can you describe how you work with Anatoly?

    A: I’d like to. We would alternate between a technique and ____? We would start with a single theme—a skyline of New York City, for example, and then we’d looked at it from another point of view like the World Trade Center (Refer to photo of painting of New York City skyline in Related Media). We’d change it to tell a story. The painting grows organically. “It talks to us.” But its not abstract.

    Q: How did you develop the ability to draw so realistically?

    A: The book, Drawing through the right side of the Brain and Anatoly. I start work with a realistic photograph or object.

    Q: But your work is not entirely realistic. There are secrets in every painting, like the branches that are faces if you look closely. The viewer has to really engage with your work to see it.

    A: Yes. (David smiles) (Refer to photo of bird’s nest in the tree).

    Q: What is your preferred medium? Your artwork is so vibrant and alive. Is it oil?
    A: I work exclusively in pencil, colored pencils and opaque water color, plain gouache.

    Q: How would you describe yourself as an artist? There doesn’t seem to be any one style, subject or theme.

    A: Eclectic. I have only two Holocaust pieces.

    Q: Let’s turn now to your Holocaust painting. Can you discuss its origin?

    A: I’d be happy to. What I wanted to do was pay homage to my parents, Samuel and Beatrice and my best friend’s parents, all Holocaust survivors. What I decided to do was a still life of the objects that they saved and took with them through the war.

     

    Q: We’d be honored if you’d take us on a journey through your Holocaust creation.

    David shows a photo of the painting and points to each object:

    Furrier’s knife, object of best friend’s parents.

    Amzel and Kompel label that sold fur coats, object of best friend’s parents.

    Ghetto work permit, object of best friend’s parents.

    Mother’s One Mark Note from Bergen Belsen so she could buy a mirror and comb. (Refer to photo of historic one mark note in Related Media)

    Mother’s soup spoon. My mother was on a transit train going between camps during liberation when it was bombed. They allies bombed the first and the last cars so the train couldn’t run. My mother escaped and there was looting and she saw the spoon so she could eat. That’s all she wanted.

    Spoon (2nd) from memory of David’s father drinking coffee.

    Songbird (missing a talon) symbol of Samuel, David’s father who lost the middle finger of his right hand to a sniper April 14, 1945 two weeks before the war ended.

    Photograph of best friends’ brother who died on a forced march in 1943 age of 10 (child survivor)

    Tree stump ground has faces in the wood of all “the people I’ll never know,” my aunts and uncles who perished.

    Siberian forest sets the background where my father fled during the war.

    Bread represents my mother who has many stories about importance of bread in her life. 

  • Sources and Credits:

    Credits: SSBJCC Interview with David Goteiner May 12, 2021 by Nancy Gorrell. The Center gratefully acknowledges donation by David Goteiner of digital reproduction of original artwork, “Holocaust Still Life” and digital and historic family photographs.

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