Saturday, December 15, 2018

ARIANE knout, Jewish resistance, pencil sketch by Dr k Prabhakar rao


Pencil sketch 20x16 cm paper.. ARIANE KNOUT, JEWISH RESISTANCE! WW II

1 comment:

Dr K Prabhakar Rao said...

Ariane Knout, the daughter of the Russian composer Alexandr Scriabin (1872–1915), was born in Italy. After converting to Judaism she married the Jewish poet David Knout. In June 1940 the couple fled Paris and went to Toulouse, where they established a secret organization called La main forte (the strong hand), the purpose of which was to prepare for the war against Britain in order to liberate Palestine. Ariane Knout went so far as to think that Hitler’s victory would strengthen the Zionist movement, allowing the Jewish people to put all its effort into establishing an independent state. The secret organization spread, eventually changing its methods and working for the establishment of an armed Jewish underground to fight against the Germans, with the name Armée Juive (AJ, the Jewish Army). In 1943 groups of AJ partisans were established. Knout kept communications open between the command in Toulouse and the partisans who trained in the forest in the Tarn district. She also brought weapons to the partisans and encouraged them with her enthusiasm for the struggle.

Ariane Knout was murdered on July 22, 1944, when she was ambushed by members of the French militia as she was returning to the AJ headquarters.