Moshe Galili was born into a Jewish family in Erdőbénye, Hungary in 1930. Escaping Nazi persecution, his family fled to Budapest and, after the invasion of Hungary by Nazi Germany, Galili's mother managed to keep her family hidden and they survived the war. Galili later moved to Israel and, after studying in Italy and Paris, he settled in England, where he specialised in stained glass windows inspired by his Jewish heritage and the Holocaust.
Stained glass artist Moshe Galili was born Andor (‘Bandi’) Guttmann into a Jewish family in Erdőbénye, Hungary on 15 March 1930. Following Hitler’s accession to the Chancellorship in Germany in 1933, Galili’s father, Matyas, had to give up the bakery he ran in the village and the family moved to Budapest. After the occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany in 1944 and the beginning of the deportation of Hungarian Jews, Galili’s mother, Serena, managed to keep her family hidden, and she and her children survived the war. Matyas joined the Jewish armed resistance in Budapest and was shot while fighting the Nazis; he later died from his injuries. When Budapest was liberated in 1945, Moshe and his younger sister joined a Jewish youth group and left Hungary. In the hope of becoming immigrants to Palestine, they first sought refuge in a Displaced Persons' camp in the American Zone of defeated Germany, where they remained for two and a half years. During this time, Galili began drawing, painting and making murals on Jewish subjects. Galili eventually settled in Israel, arriving in 1948, two months before the establishment of the newly-independent State, where he completed his military service and studied at the Bezalel School of Art in Jerusalem. He also became an early member of the artists' village at Ein Hod. Galili subsequently studied art in Italy and in Paris, graduating from the École des Beaux Arts with a distinction in Engraving.
In 1962 Galili settled in Palmers Green, Enfield, London, where he initially made a living designing and making jewellery and stained glass windows. He later created what was to become known as the Holocaust and Humanity series, which he intended to act as a reminder and educational tool for future generations. He held his first solo exhibition in England at the Northampton Institute, London (now City University) in 1964. In 1999, slides of 50 paintings from the series were shown together for the first time at the new British Library building in Kings Cross; the originals were exhibited in 2004 at Bruce Castle Museum in north London. Further exhibitions included the Hungarian Embassy (2006), a solo show and inclusion in the International Jewish Artist of the Year Award (IJAYA; both at Ben Uri, 2006); Hendon Holocaust Survivors’ Centre (2009), and Tower Hamlets Brady Centre, London (2014). In 2001 Galili published his memoirs, Survivors: The Holocaust: A Young Boy's Story. A portrait of Moshe Galili by Silvia Gayler was commissioned by Bruce Castle Museum in Haringey in 2010.
Moshe Galili died in London, England in 2017. A stained-glass portrait of Swedish diplomat and Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg is held in the Ben Uri Collection. Further collections the UK public domain holding his work include the Holocaust Survivors' Centre in Hendon and the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre in Laxton, Nottinghamshire.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Moshe Galili]
Publications related to [Moshe Galili] in the Ben Uri Library