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In an era of public-relations hype and pretty packaging, one can often be duped into believing that a product is far better than it really is. But there is no need for a spin doctor here. Even the best- oiled marketing machine couldn't possibly produce a more dramatic, tragic or laughter-filled script than the story of Joseph Bau's life. It is the stuff of pure fantasy and would, no doubt, make a gripping movie - in fact, part of it has.
Just consider the "rough cut" of the Bau bio. During World War II, Polish-born Bau - now 80 years old, in poor health and hardly able to communicate verbally - survived the Cracow Ghetto, Plaszow concentration camp and even suspicion of being a Nazi on the run.
He came to Israel at the age of 30 with almost no knowledge of Hebrew and with very little chance of getting a foot in the door in the already heavily populated local art community. But that didn't stop him from becoming the country's leading animator in the early years of the fledgling state. So much for the dry facts.
Bau was born in Cracow in 1920 to comfortable, middle- class, secular Jewish parents. His father was an artist and encouraged his son to develop his artistic skills. Bau was soon spending more time drawing and painting than on his schoolwork.
When Bau reached high-school age, his father tried to get the talented Joseph into a prestigious local art school. But this was the early 1930s and discrimination against Jews was already the norm. Bau was duly rejected.
He then attended the Cracow Jewish high school but spent very little time exploring the mysteries of the Hebrew language or Jewish history. His teachers felt his talents could be much better utilized decorating the school walls with murals and generally beautifying the premises.
It was at this stage that Bau's electrical skills came to light, and he was soon also running a private radio station for the school. "He never studied to become an electrician. He just had that talent," says Bau's eldest daughter, Hadassah Bau Rosenblatt.
His Semitic origins notwithstanding, in 1938 he was accepted for an arts degree at Cracow University. "They took one look...