Joseph & Rebecca Bau’s Love Story Captured in Film

Most people know Joseph Bau from “Schindler’s List,” which immortalized the moment he and fellow prisoner, Rebecca Tennenbaum, secretly married in 1944 inside the Plaszów concentration camp. With scraps of cloth for a veil and witnesses standing watch, their whispered vows were an act of resistance against Nazi brutality.

But Joseph Bau’s life was far more than a single cinematic scene. The documents he forged saved Jewish lives in the Krakow Ghetto, in the Plaszów labor camp, and at Oskar Schindler’s ammunition factory in Brünnlitz.

After the war, Joseph became one of Israel’s pioneering animators and graphic artists, using creativity and humor to help rebuild Jewish cultural life. Known as the Israeli Walt Disney, he became a typographer, poet, satirist, inventor, author, and publisher — all guided by the singular belief that joy is an act of resistance.

In 1960, Bau opened his art studio in Tel Aviv, a cultural laboratory of humor, design, poetry, and ideas. Today, that studio is the Joseph Bau Museum, preserving the life, art, and legacy of a man who brought laughter and creativity to a world recovering from tragedy. For more than 20 years, his daughters, Clila and Hadasa Bau, have directed the Joseph Bau Museum, one of more than 200 officially recognized heritage sites in Israel. However, today, the museum’s future hangs in the balance. The building that houses Bau’s original studio has been sold. Without a new home, this treasure — intimate, original, unrepeatable — could vanish.

Lee Tanenbaum was honored to join Clila and Hadasa at the Sept. 21 premiere of Paramount’s feature film, “Bau, Artist at War,” at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. “Seeing Joseph and Rebecca Bau’s extraordinary story of survival, courage, and love come alive on the big screen was an unforgettable experience. It reminded me of why preserving the Joseph Bau Museum is so important. Joseph Bau’s legacy must continue to inspire future generations,” Lee Tanenbaum said.

“Bau, Artist at War” was released in the U.S. and Canada on Sept. 26, and premiered in Australia in November through the Jewish International Film Festival, and the film began streaming this month on Paramount and will be available for purchase or rental on major digital platforms — including Apple TV, Prime Video, and Fandango at Home — making Joseph and Rebecca’s story accessible to audiences around the world.

The building that houses the Joseph Bau Museum has been sold and is slated for demolition. As a first step to secure the museum’s future, the Bau family has launched an urgent global crowdfunding campaign to raise $200,000. The funds will support a museum relocation feasibility study and business plan with Gallagher & Associates, a world-leading museum planning and design firm, as well as other essential relocation expenses. To donate, please visit www.causematch.com/josephbaumuseum

For more information about Joseph and Rebecca Bau, the film, view the virtual tour, sign up for the newsletter, learn how to host the traveling exhibition, and more: www.linktr.ee/JosephBauHouse

To view the digital release, please visit https://vupulse.com/c/7794