Omar Rolf Ehrenfels (1901-1980) was an Austrian who converted to Islam and found himself interned with us in the Satara Internment & Parole Center in India. He was a gifted painter and we were lucky that he wanted to do these watercolor portraits of my mother and me in 1944. You can see how his Orientalism and his interest in women and women’s rights translated into how he saw us! Tom Reiss refers to Omar Rolf in The Orientalist.
My Mum and me
Ehrenfels signature: July 12, 1944
4 Responses
Dear Hazel (if I may),
I just discovered these two pictures. Thank you very much for sharing them.
A historian of religion situated at Erlangen university (Germany), I just finished a book on the Ahmadiyya mission in interwar Europe, which will appear with EJ Brill in Leiden in a couple of months.
During this research, I met with your father at several injunctions. and I gave him a little portrait in the book.
Following up on this publication, I plan to do an in-depth study on the effect(-s) which rational, progressive Islam (the kind the Ahmadis from Lahore propagated) had on people’s lives, and describe how they fashioned their personal lives, treated their wives / husbands and educated their children. Omar Ehrenfels will be given a central place.
May I ask you to support my research if you can? For instance through considering some still open questions (about the internment, about life in India in the post-war period)?
Any way, I do think it is about time that your Rolf Omar Ehrenfels receives the scholarly interest he deserves and would be very thankful to hearing from you.
Yours kindly,
Gerdien Jonker
I’ll contact you directly. It’s a rare treat to receive any feedback about Omar or our portraits!
Shalom-Salam-Peace Hazel!
I’ve just viewed your beautiful 🌹portraits of your mom & yourself drawn by Rolf-Umar Ehrenfels.
I kindly ask permission to publish in an upcoming book anthology of
The Orient & Germany
from 1700-1950.
Then if your answer is in the affirmative then close ups of the potrsuts would be greatly appreciated.
yours,
Kerim Raschid
ps. my grandfather as an Austrian before later becoming sn American was imprisoned by 🇬🇧 in India for Espionage in India in the 1930’s having also like Baron Umar reverted to Islam.
ps. I’m New Yorker from Long Island but living in
Istanbul 🌅🕌🇹🇷now.