Erna Rosenstein (1913–2004) spent her youth in Krakow and Vienna. In the mid-1930s, she became involved with the avant-garde Krakow Group. She survived the Holocaust and, following the war, joined the Communist Party of Poland. Some of the recurring motifs in Rosenstein’s practice are images of her parents, Anna and Maksymilian Rosenstein, who were murdered in July 1942. In a failed attempt to flee the Lwów Ghetto and reach Warsaw, the Rosensteins were attacked in the woods by a man who previously offered the family safe passage. Only Erna Rosenstein was able to escape. Memories of this event lie at the heart of Rosenstein’s surrealist imaginary.
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