'Yom Kippur in the Woods' (Charcoal on paper) Credit: Toby Knoebel Fluek; The Florida Holocaust Museum's permanent collection, donated by Lillian Fluek Finkler

‘Yom Kippur in the Woods’ (Charcoal on paper) Credit: Toby Knoebel Fluek; The Florida Holocaust Museum's permanent collection, donated by Lillian Fluek Finkler
Toby Knobel Fluek, survived the Holocaust and went on to become an artist.

Her daughter, Lillian Fluek Finkler's, has donated her mother's work — some 542 paintings, drawings, charcoals, sketches, and historical documents — to the Florida Holocaust Museum. 

"I have donated my mother's collection to The Florida Holocaust Museum so that her story would be kept alive, even though she is no longer with us. I am excited that her artwork will be exhibited and shared by The Florida Holocaust Museum in their educational outreach as well as digitally and in museum exhibits. It is important that children, adults, museums and researchers all have access to this unique visual memory of my mother's world. She would have been pleased and honored that her work is being made available to current and future generations," said Finkler. 

Her mother also penned two books: Memories of My Life in a Polish Village and Passover As I Remember It. In both books, her illustrations accompany her stories.

Toby Knobel Fluek lived near Lvov, in Poland, when Nazisforced them into the Brody ghetto. After the Holocaust, she came to the United States.

FHM has not yet released a date when these works will be on exhibit.

‘The Seder’ (watercolor on paper) The Florida Holocaust Museum’s permanent collection, donated by Lillian Fluek Finkler Credit: Toby Knoebel Fluek; The Florida Holocaust Museum's permanent collection, donated by Lillian Fluek Finkler

This article appears in Jun 7-14, 2018.

Cathy's portfolio includes pieces for Visit Florida, USA Today and regional and local press. In 2016, UPF published Backroads of Paradise, her travel narrative about retracing the WPA-era Florida driving...