This work is about questions. For instance questions of what the experience would be like being on a „death train”. Questions of what this horrific experience was like for the people who lived it. What was going on inside the minds, bodies and hearts of the people forced into cramped rail cars in filthy conditions and suffering in the infernal heat? What were their lives like before their freedom was taken away because of who they were? What did the inhumanity feel like as the dehydration and starvation took over their bodies one person at a time?
Acrylic and ink on canvas, 100x100 cm
What was it like to know if you collapsed that it would mean certain death? What was it like to stand bleeding from the open wounds made by cutting off their fingers to have a wedding ring forever taken from them? How long can a person withstand deprivation and unbearable suffering at the hands of others? What could have possibly been inside their heads as they tried to figure out what’s going to happen next, what was the final destination and how long would it take to reach the next horror?
What was it like to be a person that didn't live for the entire train ride? What was felt as they gave their last breath in a train among other people who were their families, friends and neighbors? What was it like to watch someone die and not have the ability to save a life when your own life was so tenuous?
What was it like to have the strength to live when dying was the only way to escape from that hell? What was it like for the survivors to have witnessed these atrocities and to be unable to change the story? What was it like to be guilty of who you are and not what you've done?
These are the questions I brought together in my artwork about the "death trains" of the Holocaust. It's an exploration of "What's Inside".
These are the questions I brought together in my artwork about the "death trains" of the Holocaust. It's an exploration of "What's Inside".
