April 2022 Portrait of the Month — Dr. Joseph Jaksy

Dr. Joseph Jaksy

This month we’re featuring a portrait of Dr. Joseph Jaksy. This powerful portrait was created at a workshop for educators at the National Museum of Jewish American Heritage in Philadelphia. Dr. Jaksy was the physician for the founder of the Slovak People’s Party, the fascist regime that was complicit with the Nazis. He used his position of power to save Jewish people from deportation and death. He would bring in Jewish patients under the guise of illness, then hide them in his wards until he could get them to safety. With a group of friends, he devised plans to help people get out of the country.  He later wrote: “What I did, I did in my role as a doctor and out of my feelings as a human being.” Yad Vashem named him as “Righteous Among Nations” for his work as an upstander.

Students around the world who drew his portrait reflected on the experience:

“To study a photo of someone then make art about them makes me feel as I’m allowing their history to be told in art that their thoughts and emotions show in the picture. I’ll remember how Dr.Joseph saved many people even when it meant he would be killed.” — Stacey T.

“The Great Joseph Jaksy who helped save the lives of many. It felt like I really could connect with the person physically.” — Logan P.