Book Festival of the MJCCA: Hadasa & Clila Bau, Bau: Artist at War

The 35th Edition of the Book Festival of the MJCCA Presents

Hadasa & Clila Bau, Bau: Artist at War

Author Talk, Q & A & Book Signing

Through a panoramic Hollywood feature film and the pages of Joseph Bau’s book, Bau: Artist at War, his daughters Clila and Hadasa tell us the story of their parents, largely unsung heroes of the Holocaust. Born in Krakow, Poland, Joseph Bau was a graphic artist who survived the Plaszow concentration camp because of his special talent for lettering and making maps and signs. His story did not end there. Surreptitiously, he forged identity papers for those who were able to escape the camp. His secret marriage in the camp to Rebecca was incorporated into Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film “Schindler’s List.” Though they were played by actors in the film, you can see the real Baus placing a stone on Oskar Schindler’s grave in the movie’s closing scenes.

As manicurist to Plaszow’s monstrous commander, Amon Goeth, Rebecca found out about Schindler’s list and arranged to have her husband’s name added to it, instead of her own. Bau only found out about this selfless act of love 50 years later.

After the two emigrated to Israel, Bau became one of Israel’s leading graphic artists, creating movie and product art known to most Israelis. This earned him the moniker, “the Israeli Walt Disney.” What is not widely known is the vital role he played in forging papers for the Mossad for those who engaged in some of Israel’s most important intelligence exploits abroad. 

In his painstaking prose, Joseph Bau also shares his experience of other wartime traumas—the bombing of Kraków, the brutality of the ghetto, the harsh last days at Oskar Schindler’s factory—with surprising wit and irony, a tone enhanced by his brilliant black-and-white drawings. Above all, Bau’s story is a celebration of his wife, Rebecca. They had a mutual devotion that fueled their humor, resiliency, and ultimate triumph in the face of unspeakable evil.

At once a tale of horror and beauty, Bau: Artist at War is one man’s memoir of a miracle: the bloom of love in the depths of a Nazi concentration camp.

Joseph Bau’s art is on display in the Katz Family Mainstreet Gallery through December 2026.

Books will be available for purchase on the day of the event from our partner bookseller, A Cappella Books!

All sales are final. Tickets are non-refundable.