'Jewish girl' explores the inconceivable contrast between the beauty of youth and the atrocities of war. Thinking of the Dutch heritage where many Jews were deported to Germany and Poland to disappear forever, it felt like a necessity to create a series of art around this theme. The number on the wall symbolizes that if you were Jewish, you were just a number during this horrific war. Moreover in concentration camps all prisoners were given an identification number. The old sticker seems to have a swastika symbol around the number. I photographed these backgrounds in an abandoned sanatorium complex, near Berlin. During World War I it served as a field hospital where Hitler was treated for injuries. The girl and chair I photographed in my studio against a plain background. Photoshop gives me the opportunity to combine these images.
