Author's Acknowledgement
Thanks To:
Anna's family, the Tatrais; Meredith McNabe and the Minnesota Medical Association for
the stimulation and opprtunity to publish my thoughts and art
work in Minnesota Medicine; Marry Ellen Gee for constant support and editorial assistance; Candy Ames for encouraging this endevor; Erwin A. Kelen for establishment of the Yellow Star Foundation
About the Author
Robert 0. Fisch is a native of Budapest, Hungary, and a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp. After the war, Dr. Fisch returned to Hungary and completed medical school, and then went to America in 1957. He became a medical intern at the University of Minnesota in 1958 and has been at the University ever since. He has been a professor of pediatrics since 1979. Dr. Fisch is known internationally for his clinical research on PKU (phenylketonuria), a genetic disease. He studied art in Budapest and Minneapolis and has a distinguished second career as a visual artist.
For decades, Dr. Fisch's feelings about the Holocaust and his experience were only an internal, private matter. Now he believes his experience can be applied positively through Lightfrom the Yellow Star: A Lesson of Love from the Holocaust.
Art Curriculum Vitae
Robert O. Fisch, M.D.
Dr. Fisch studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, and at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
His work has been exhibited in various oneman and group shows in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Worthington, Minnesota; Washington, D.C.; and Memphis, Tennessee.
Dr. Fisch's art work appeared in different medical and nonmedical publications. He developed and published the first threedimensional medical illustration in a medical journal (R.O. Fisch, et al., "Status of Survivals of Neonatal Respiratory Distress," Journal of Pediatrics 73:395403, 1968); and a very expressive but unusual illustration in a book chapter (R.O. Fisch, "Longterm Consequences of Survivals of Respiratory Distress Syndrome," in G.H. Nelson [ed.], Pulmonary Development Lung Biology and Health and Disease, New York:Marcel Dekker, Inc., 27:431466, 1985) and a medical journal (R.O. Fisch, et al., "Maternal PhenylketonuriaChronology of the Detrimental Effects on Embryogenesis," Pediatric Pathology 5:449461, 1986), illustrating his papers.
Some of his art work was illustrating essays, as well as several for cover illustrations ("These Words Are Their Flowers," Minnesota Medicine 72:572573, 1989; and "Sustaining Life Through Art and Medicine," Minnesota Medicine 73:1314, 1990). He received first prize in 1976 for the best cover of Minnesota Medicine (March, 1975). At the exhibit of the American Physician Art Association, Dr. Fisch has received first prize for oil, second prize for water color (Washington, D.C., 1989); first prize for oil (Memphis, Tennessee, 1990); third prize for oil (Atlanta, Georgia, 1991); third prize for oil (New Orleans, LA, 1993); and second prize for oil (Dallas, Texas, 1999). Dr. Fisch participated at an art exhibit in Baltimore, MD, in November, 1996.
Dr. Fisch's cartoons were published in a national magazine (Resident and Staff Physicians 20:20, 1974), and in local journals. He has produced multiple illustrations for local organizations, as well as for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota.
An essay and illustration exhibit from his book, Light From the Yellow Star: A Lesson of Love From the Holocaust, was displayed at the Frederick Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis), from April 6 through June 17, 1994. Subsequent showings were held at: Atwood Gallery, St. Cloud (Minnesota) State University [4/34/28/95]; the Yad Labinum Museum in PetachTikva (Israel) [5/97/14/96]; Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota [January, 1997]; the Dallas Holocaust Center [April & May, 1997]; the Minneapolis Foundation [October, 1997]; the Maitland (Florida) Holocaust Museum and Resource Center [November & December, 1997]; the St. Petersburg (Florida) Holocaust Museum [FebruaryJune, 1998]; the Literaturhaus Salzburg (Austria) [11/9812/98]; the Stifterhaus Linz (Austria) [1/99]; the Literaturhaus Mattersburg (Austria) [2/99]; the University of Klagenfurt (Austria) [3/43/25/99]; in Hildburghausen, Germany [4/145/31/99]; and the Minneapolis (Minnesota) Institute of Art [8/2510/31/99].