Arthur Szyk (pronounced ShickA") created his Haggadah on the eve of
the Nazi occupation of his native Poland. In 1937, he relocated to
London, carrying with him the 48 densely illustrated panels that
depicted Jewish heroes like Moses and David triumphing over
Egyptians and Philistines. Three years later, a group of wealthy
English Jews financed a first (limited) edition of The Szyk
Haggadah. By 1956, the plates had found their way to Israel, where
a trade edition remained in print until 2003. Available in the
United States only through specialized distribution channels, this
version became the most popular haggadah of the twentieth
century-at least in Israel. This edition, the first widely
available printing since 1940 to be reproduced from Szyk's original
art, boasts a newly commissioned and incredibly practical text by
Rabbi Byron L. Sherwin, the Director of Doctoral Studies at the
Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago. A special
commentary section, which follows the main story of the Passover,
gives insight into both the rituals of the seder and Szyk's rich
illustrations. A master miniaturist, Arthur Szyk studied and worked
in Paris, Krakow, and Palestine during the years before World War
I. His art attracted the attention of the Polish Army in Lodz,
which recruited him to head their Department of Propaganda.
Following the war, he was a popular and highly collectable artist,
traveling to America to promote exhibitions. Hitler's rise to power
in early 1933 prompted Szyk's return to Lodz, where he began work
on his haggadah in earnest. The original version of the haggadah,
which depicts historical Jewish triumphs through contemporaneous
villains, included swastikas on the armbands of the Egyptians.A"
Szyk eventually removed these to make the illustrations more
palatable to European publishers, who were wary of Germany's
military expansions. Szyk's anti-Nazi work was widely published
during World War II; in 1941, Putnam published The New Order,
filled with Szyk caricatures of Axis leaders, and his satirical
drawings of Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito graced magazine covers,
editorials, ads for war bonds, and even War Department pamphlets
and films.
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