My Grandfather's Portrait: A Reflection for Remembrance Day

The Portrait of my Grandfather, Frank Rason
Sketeched during the Second World War
at the Astoria Club in Amasterdam by
W. Sealtiel, 44 Paramaribost
On my wall hangs a portrait, sketched in charcoal and coloured pencil.  It is a portrait of my maternal grandfather, Francis James Rason (1923-1997).  During the war he was stationed in Belgium, the Netherlands and in England (the latter being where he met my grandmother).  In the 1940s, while in Amsterdam, he had his portrait done, twice in fact.  I first learned of this portrait when I was a teenager and began to ask my grandmother about our family history. She began to show me old photographs, particularly photographs of her family back in England, photographs of her parents and grandparents, some of which have now come into my possession.  Then she told me she wanted to show me something special that she thought I’d find interesting.  She reached into her closet and pulled out a cardboard paper towel roll.  Out of the roll she slipped two original sketches, very similar to each other, of a man in profile, in military uniform. His slim features were elegant and fine and he had a forward hairline that was combed skyward. “Do you know who this is?” She asked.  I was not sure. “It’s your Grampy,” she said. Grampy, my grandfather, had had since gone bald and while he remained a very good-looking man, aging had reshaped some of those finer features of his youth. My grandmother told me that he had the picture done while he was in Amsterdam, taking great pride in telling me that it was done in the Astoria Club.  She carefully read the name of the artist to me, “W. Sealtiel,” as if it should have meant something, and told me that he had two pictures done, one for her and one for his mother.  There was no love lost between my grandmother and her mother-in-law, and clearly my grandfather’s mother’s drawing never made it to her.  My grandmother asked me to have some colour copies made and that she would share with other family members.  Being charged with this sacred task and the care of these valued artefacts, I did as told and returned them to her.  The originals were dutifully rolled back in their cardboard roll and remained hidden away until she died in 2001.

Frank Rason in the late 1980s
After my grandmother’s death, my mother found the two original portraits, still in their roll where they had lived with a few sparing exposures for nearly sixty years.  My mother framed one of them and it hangs on her wall to this day.  She trusted the other original into my care and I had it framed and matted and now I enjoy looking at it on a daily basis.  When I look at the portrait I like to imagine what the world must have been like for them – a young man who lied about his age to serve his country; his nineteen-year-old bride who was sent to Canada to live with in-laws she didn’t know; and the unknown future they chose to travel into together. 

There is one other thing that has always stirred within my imagination about this picture, though, and that is the signature and inscription placed by the artist:

“This picture was drawn
in the
Astoria – Club
Amsterdam Holland
W. Sealtiel
44 Paramaribost
Amsterdam”

 Who was W. Sealtiel?  And what were the circumstances under which this portrait was executed?  In my mind’s eye, I have always imagined a young man, perhaps a gifted teenager, eking about a living for himself, perhaps for his aging mother or orphaned siblings, by drawing portraits of soldiers for them to send home.  I often wondered what became of this “W. Sealtiel,” and if he were still alive, or if his family still lived in Amsterdam.  I wondered how many other portraits of soldiers by “W. Sealtiel” existed, hanging on the walls of soldiers’ children and grandchildren, or remained rolled up in cardboard rolls in the cupboards of aging war brides.

 One day, as I had few spare moments, and at the instigation of my best friend, Darryl, I decided to do an internet search for “W. Sealtiel,” something that surely would not have yielded a result when the portrait first came into my possession.  Darryl suggested that maybe, just maybe, I might learn something of this mysterious artist. Perhaps, just perhaps, he was an illustrious character with a colourful story.  To be honest, while I thought I might find some shred of information on the artist, and perhaps even another portrait or two of some long-forgotten soldiers sketched by W. Sealtiel on eBay, I did not expect much.  Within minutes of searching I had found another sketch, of a woman, available through a Dutch art dealer, and after digging a bit deeper, I found a biographical sketch of the man himself in a periodical dedicated to family history research on the “Shealtiel” name.   

Walter Sealtiel was a secular German Jew, born in 1890. His family were of the upper class set in Berlin, but Walter saw the writing on the wall and in 1935 decided to make haste and leave Germany.  Being able to speak fluent Dutch, he fled to Amsterdam where he tried to blend in to life there.  But even in blending in he maintained something of a profile!  He was a performer of sorts.  He had mastered the art of pick-pocketing as entertainment. Apparently he was even styled by the Amsterdam press as “the king of the pickpockets!”  He traveled to England, France and even New York to perform his “magic,” not limiting himself to pickpocketing alone, he apparently practised telekenisis and read minds, as well! An interview exists from the early 1930s, now translated into English, in which Sealtiel explains how he became a pick-pocket and shares a secret or two of how the magic is done.  At some point he earned his living working for the Bijenkorf Warehouse (one of the great Dutch department stores that still exists) working as a portrait artist.   I have yet to discover a connection with the Astoria Club, though.  Perhaps he happened to be there by chance when the portrait of my grandfather was done, or perhaps he was engaged by the club to do such work. During the later years of the war he was sent to a work camp, which broke him physically. After the war he returned to Amsterdam, to his wife and their residence there.  And where was it that they lived?  44 Paramariboststraat.  This is the address on my grandfather’s portrait.  If I had any doubts that the Walter Sealtiel about which I was learning was the same as the W. Sealtiel who sketched my grandfather’s portrait, these were now laid to rest. 

 There may be another connection, though. It is said that after the war broke out, Sealtiel’s son Hans actually joined the Canadian Army and fought in the battle of the Ardennes. Was Walter Sealtiel more than a simple portrait artist who crossed paths with my grandfather? Or were they actually known to each other?  Did my grandfather serve with his son? Would this have been how they met? What is even more intriguing is that after a time, the son, Hans Sealtiel began spying on behalf of the Canadian military because he spoke fluent German without an accent. 

 This discovery, made in a few short minutes by a small amount of internet research, was more than I could have ever imagined.  Walter Sealtiel was clearly a remarkable man!  The portrait is one of my most valued possessions and anchors me to my own family history, but now with the knowledge of the artist and his family, I also feel anchored in a special way to the world of this remarkable man who was a stage magician, portrait painter, prisoner-of-war, and father of a spy!

 Walter Sealtiel died in 1948, a man broken by his incarceration.  It is said that his son resented the fact that he had never revealed to him that they were Jews.  It is hard to judge the motives of the men of another age.  Even with this freshly-discovered story as a new insight into the story behind this portrait, it seems such a distant time.  It remains hard to understand a young Canadian who lies about his age to serve his country; it is unfathomable to me that a young bride should leave her family, to come to a new country, sight unseen, while her husband is still fighting in Europe; and it is just as hard to imagine what it would have been like to have been Walter Sealtiel, hiding his ethnicity, fleeing is homeland, and sketching portraits and performing magic to make a living during those war-torn years.  We dare not judge; but oh how wonderful it is to let our imaginations sketch portraits of their nearly-forgotten lives.

 
Information for this piece was gleaned from “A Family Shattered by Persecution,” by Vibeke Sealtiel Olsen in The Shealtiel Gazette: The International Journal of the Family Network (Vol. IV, no III, May 2000): 20-22. In the same issue, the above-mentioned interview with Walter Sealtiel is also to be found on page 25, entitled, “How I became a Pickpocket.”

Comments

Darryl Andrews said…
One of the very best "reflections" yet! Truly a treasure!
Kathryn Ross said…
I also have portrait of my father drawn by W Salteil. My father was also in the Royal Canadian Airforce and his profile portrait was drawn at the Astoria Hotel in Amsterdam 19 September 1945 and also includes the address of the artist.

Thank you for the insight on the artist. I too had my dad's portrait framed - much like yours.
Daniel Graves said…
Thanks for sharing this. I would love to see the portrait of your father! If you would be willing to share it you could email me. fr.daniel.graves@gmail.com
Louis G.L. Hofman said…
Hi Daniel,

I am originally from The Netherlands (live since about a year in Brussels/Belgium) and own two portraits of W(alter) Sealtiel. Inherited them from my mother who in turn inherited from her mother. It are childhood portraits of my mother and her (late) sister drawn in February 1945. Initially I though that Walter Sealtiël must have been hiding with my grandparents and did the portraits as a favor in return. But the fact that the address "Paramaribostraat 44" was listed made me doubt and hence I googled, to run into your blog and reference to Walter Sealtiël.

I'm very surprised that Walter Sealtiël managed to keep his being a jew hidden as when I heard the name immediately realized he was Jewish and no doubt would have Portuguese roots. The latter I got confirmed in 1999 when I moved to Scheveningen, a suburb of The Hague. Shortly after the move my parents came to visit me and my mother was kind of shocked when she spotted the name "J. Sealtiël" on the bell board and told it was the same name as of the artist of the two portraits (who had always been displayed in a room in my parents house but I never noticed the name of the artist). I hadn't met J. Sealtiël yet but obviously then looked him up. We have been great friends ever since until his passing away May 16th last year (80). Joop confirmed to me that his family were Portuguese Jews. He told me that there is a Sealtiël world association with a news letter. I have a (partial) copy of one of those newsletter. I will mail that to you together with a picture of the two portraits.

Warm regards, Louis
Kim A said…
I have just found a caricature drawing of my late Uncle amongst his possessions, also by W.Sealtiel dated 1947. The reverse says ' This picture was drawn in the 113 Transit Camp, Hook of Holland by W.Sealtiel-Amsterdam 44 Paramararibostraat.
My Uncle was a British soldier in the South Staffordshire regiment.
Kevin Truen said…
I also have a portrait of my father done during the Second World War at the Astoria club by W Sealtiel.
Kevin Truen said…
I also have a portrait of my father done at the Astoria club by W Sealtiel.
Unknown said…
Hello Daniel Graves, my name is Paula Schaapsmeerders and i'm living in Amsterdam.
One of the things my partner left when he died 3 years ago was a drawing of him as a little boy.
The drawing was made by Walt Sealtiel in 1941 in the Bijenkorf.
I'm very happy with your story about mr Sealtiel, thank you.
My very best wishes, Paula
Unknown said…
Hi, I also have a portrait of my aunt as a 7-years-old girl, done in January 1941. I didn`t know anything about the history of this drawing, and now I`m really moved to read more about the artist`s story. Thank you for sharing this :-)
Unknown said…
Thank you for sharing. For many years, my Grampa would pull out a portrait he had done by the same artist while there, as a Canadian soldier in the Seaforth Highlanders.
Unknown said…
I just found out that a portrait of my grandmothers sister that is in my possession was made by Sealtiel. She died in 1940 and it is made after a photograph is written on the portrait.She was thirteen when her mother died in 1906 and took care of her six brothers and sisters for her father didn't marry again. He was a very strict man and all the schildren were afraid of him, but she stood up for them. They lived in a forge in Zaandam, a city near Amsterdam. I found out that there is one other portrait in the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam. With so many portraits still existing the museum could organize an exhibition.
Unknown said…
Maybe the owners of portraits can bring Sealtiels work together and make a catalogue.
David Slootweg said…
My mother passed away last Friday and we are going through her things and came across this portrait of her as a child from 1945. The story our grandmother told us was that the portrait and another was done by this man in exchange for a meal. It sure looks to be by the same artist.
Adrian Slootweg said…
My grandmother fed him a meal in holland in 1945 in exchange for two portraits. One of my mother and aunt.

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