Education
In 1936, Kien graduated with honors from a German high school.
In 1936, Kien graduated with honors from a German high school.
He died at the age of twenty-five. The name of Franz Peter Kien, a prominent figure among many outstanding artists imprisoned in the Terezín (Theresienstadt) ghetto during World World War II, is usually associated with the opera The Emperor of Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann. In addition to the libretto of that opera, Kien left significant artwork, poetry, and plays.
Kien spent his first 10 years in Varnsdorf, an industrial town near the Czechoslovakian-German border.
During the financial crisis his family moved to Brno. The certificate contains special notes on his remarkable skills in writing and drawing.
The same year, Kien enrolled in Professor Willy Novak’s class at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and in the graphic design school Officina Pragensis under Professor
Hugo Steiner-Prag. In 1939, after the racist laws were enforced, Kien was expelled from the Academy, but continued to work at the Officina Pragensis under Professor
Jaroslav Švab). He started to teach art at the Vinohrady synagogue. Married to Ilse Stranska in 1940, he tried to emigrate with his family.
In December 1941, Kien was deported to Terezin.
Over a thousand drawings, sketches, designs and paintings originate from his pre-Terezin years. Consigned to the drafting room of the Technical Department in Terezin, Kien produced numerous portraits, landscapes, drawings and genre sketches. His artwork radiates light, hope and warmth.
By contrast, his writings of this period are mostly tragic and hopeless.
In Terezin, Kien’s social satirical play Marionettes, staged by Gustav Schorsch. was performed 25 times. Gideon Klein set Kien’s poetic cycle Plague to music
His other plays written in the ghetto include Medea, Bad dream and On the Border. They found their way to the Wiener Library in London, but were never published and never performed.
He died from disease soon after his arrival.
None of the others survived.