Lost Treasures: The Wooden Synagogues of Eastern Europe The Artwork of Bill Farran
Piaski, Poland - Original Linocut
Piaski, Poland - Original Linocut
Yiddish name: Piesk
The first Jews settled in Piaski as early as the seventeenth century. Their synagogue towered over the wooden houses of the town. Piaski was a typical shtetl inhabited by Jews with an intense sense of religious and traditional values.
In September 1939, Piaski was captured for a while by the Soviet Army marking the farthest point east of Lublin under their occupation. Soon after, the Soviets withdrew as part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which enabled Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany to partition Poland between them, the Germans entered the town. Piaski was the first town in Poland where the Nazis established a ghetto in the spring of 1940. Extreme overcrowding, hunger, disease, and slave labor plagued the ghetto Jews. Between March 1942 and November 1943, the ghetto was liquidated by sending the Jews to labor and death concentration camps.
The synagogue was destroyed during fighting between the Soviets and the Germans during World War II.
Purchase a print
Original linocut prints are 8x10 inches, and are available either unmatted or in an 11x14 matte.
I also offer matted 5x7 digital prints. These prints are created from high-res digital images and come in an 8x10 matte.
For this synagogue I have created an additional digital print, with Hebrew lettering in the background. These prints are also created from high-res digital images and come in an 8x10 matte.