This early, powerful etching and aquatint by Karl Schrag was done at the Art Students League in New York, two years after he moved to the US from Paris to escape the chaos of his native Germany and the inpending war in Europe.
Schrag studied with social commentator Harry Sternberg at the ASL before studying with S.W. Hayter at Atelier 17 in New York in 1945.
Schrag draws on his memories and depicts refugees, packed on the back of a truck, escaping a destroyed city in a raging storm. A man in the cab guards the group with a rifle while the passengers, representing a cross section of ordinary people, try to sleep, pray and stay alive. A madonna-like mother and baby seem to represent a ray of hope.