Alfred Tibor

Alfred Tibor (born February 10, 1920) is a Holocaust survivor and sculptor. His artwork can be found in nearly 500 private collections and museums throughout the world, including the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem.

Tibor's life

Tibor was born Alfred Goldstein in Konyar, Hungary in 1920.

In high school, he became a self-taught talented gymnast. He was not allowed formal training because he was Jewish. He said the discrimination he faced made him train harder and work to be the best. "The more they were pushing me down and degrading me, the more I wanted to be better than others," he said. "I wanted to prove it: I am not a dirty Jew; I am a boy, and I have ambition." Tibor eventually qualified for the Hungarian team for the 1936 Summer Olympics, but when he went to register for the team, he was denied when the team discovered he was Jewish. Tibor was not allowed to compete as a member of the Hungarian team in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. [ [http://www.ohiodominican.edu/about/news/2003/Alfred_Tibor.asp Life of the Mind Presents Alfred Tibor] , Ohio Dominican University, October 14, 2003, accessed May 10, 2006.] "I was kicked out. I was kicked out because I was Jewish," Tibor said. "That time, the sky was falling apart." ["Man who survived Holocaust learned how to overcome hate" by Jennifer Nesbitt, The Newark Advocate, Mar 23, 2007.]

In 1940 Tibor was forced to be a slave laborer for a Hungarian Army labor battalion. Eventually he was captured by the Soviet Army and spent six years as a prisoner in a Siberian prison camp. Of the 273 men in his labor battalion sent to the prisoner-of-war camp, he was only one of two to survive. [ [http://www.goldenbuckeye.com/hof/2005.html#Tibor Ohio Department of Aging] Golden Buckeye 2005 Hall of Fame inductees biography, accessed May 10, 2006] Tibor credits "luck and determination" for his survival. [ [http://www.alfredtibor.net/ Alfred Tibor's personal site,] "History of a Holocaust Survivor," accessed Feb. 11, 2007.]

Tibor was freed from the camp in 1947. It was then that he discovered that, of his family of 37 immediate people (and 82 other relatives), [ [http://www.dispatch.com/news/religion/faith-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/04/21/20060421-C3-01.html "Two events will recall Holocaust"] by Felix Hoover, "The Columbus Dispatch", April 21, 2006, accessed May 10, 2006.] only he and his brother Andre had survived both the Holocaust and the war. Tibor and his brother changed their last name to Tibor to honor their older brother, Tibor Goldstein, who was executed in another prison camp. [ [http://www.ohiodominican.edu/about/news/2003/Alfred_Tibor.asp Life of the Mind Presents Alfred Tibor] , Ohio Dominican University, October 14, 2003, accessed May 10, 2006.]

Tibor moved to Budapest and worked for nine years as a government exhibition designer. In 1956, two months after the Hungarian Revolution, he fled the country with his wife and two children because he feared a return of anti-Semetic sentiment. [ [http://www.ohiodominican.edu/about/news/2003/Alfred_Tibor.asp Life of the Mind Presents Alfred Tibor] , Ohio Dominican University, October 14, 2003, accessed May 10, 2006.] They emigrated to the United States in 1957, where he worked as a commercial artist in Miami for 16 years until moving to Columbus, Ohio, to pursue sculpture full time.

Tibor's sculptures

Tibor has stated that be believes he did not lose his life during the Holocaust and World War II so he could eventually create art to capture and evoke human emotions. "Art for art’s sake is not enough," he has said. [ [http://www.goldenbuckeye.com/hof/2005.html#Tibor Ohio Department of Aging] Golden Buckeye 2005 Hall of Fame inductees biography, accessed May 10, 2006]

Tibor's first commissioned sculpture was completed in 1974. Today his work can now be found in nearly 500 private collections and museums while his large outdoor statues can be seen in Ohio and around the world. Among the locations of his statues are the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem, Batelle Memorial Park (Columbus), Trinity Lutheran Seminary (Ohio), the Ohio Governor’s mansion, the Arthur James Hospital and Research Institute, and the Indianapolis Jewish Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. [ [http://www.trinitylutheranseminary.edu/HomePage/MemorialInformation.pdf Brochure about Tibor's "Promise for Life" sculpture] , Trinity Lutheran Seminary, accessed may 10, 2006.] [ [http://www.ohioana.org/awards/2005/pegasus2005.asp Ohioana Pegasus Award: 2005] Biography of Tibor, accessed May 10, 2006.]

His most recent sculpture, "Zahor" (meaning "Remembrance" in Hebrew) was commissioned for [http://www.agudasachim.org Congregation Agudas Achim] in Bexley, Ohio, where he is a member. ["Tibor's 'Zahor' sculpture will be dedicated April 24" by Ina Horwitz-Whitmore, "ThisWeek Newspaper", April 13, 2006.] The 9-foot-tall bronze sculpture shows German soldiers herding victims into a concentration camp gas chamber while above a survivor climbs out of the smokestack holding an Israeli flag. Behind the sculpture is a granite map showing the locations of all the concentration camps in Europe. The work also features a poem written by American poet Emma Lazarus predicting the establishment of the State of Israel. [ [http://www.dispatch.com/news/religion/faith-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/04/21/20060421-C3-01.html "Two events will recall Holocaust"] by Felix Hoover, "The Columbus Dispatch", April 21, 2006, accessed May 10, 2006.]

Awards

Tibor has received a lifetime achievement award from the Liturgical Art Guild, an Arts Freedom Award, and has been inducted into the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame. He also won a 2005 Ohioana Pegasus Award. [ [http://www.ohioana.org/awards/2005/pegasus2005.asp Ohioana Pegasus Award: 2005, Alfred Tibor of Columbus OH] , Ohioana Library, accessed August 9, 2007.]

References

External links

* [http://www.alfredtibor.net/ Alfred Tibor's personal site]
* [http://www.sculpturecenter.org/oosi/artistlist.asp?A1LN=Tibor&A1FN=Alfred&A1MN= Sculpture Center information on four Tibor sculptures]