# Si Lewen

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**Si Lewen** (8 November 1918, [Lubin](/source/Lubin), [Poland](/source/Poland) – 25 July 2016) was a Polish-American painter and member of the [Ritchie Boys](/source/Ritchie_Boys), a unit of the United States Army during [World War II](/source/World_War_II).

Lewen was born in 1918 into a Polish-Jewish family, who moved to Berlin in 1920. He received drawing lessons from [Max Adron](/source/Max_Adron), a pupil of [Paul Klee](/source/Paul_Klee) and [Klaus Richter](/source/Klaus_Richter).

After [Adolf Hitler](/source/Adolf_Hitler) came to power in 1933, Lewen and his older brother emigrated to France to prepare for the departure of the entire family to Palestine. In 1935, the family unexpectedly received visas to the United States. There, in New York City, Lewen attended an art school. He volunteered for the United States Army in 1942 and, because of his knowledge of German, became a member of the [Ritchie Boys](/source/Ritchie_Boys). On reaching [Buchenwald Concentration Camp](/source/Buchenwald_Concentration_Camp), he had a breakdown. What he saw inspired his drawings created in 1950 and published in 1957 under the title *The Parade: A Story in 55 Drawings*.[[1]

[Art Spiegelman](/source/Art_Spiegelman), author of *[Maus](/source/Maus)*, published *Lewen's Parade: An Artist's Odyssey* in 2016, an "expanded "director's cut" version of Lewen's earlier publication.[2]

## References

1. [The Parade: A Story in 55 Drawings](https://wordlessnovels.com/collecting-wordless-novels-bibliography/lewen-parade-war-horrors/) a bibliographic listing

1. Spiegelman, Art (25 October 2016). ["An Early, Wordless Graphic Novel About Mankind’s Appetite for War"](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/an-early-wordless-graphic-novel-about-mankinds-appetite-for-war). *The New Yorker*

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