The death march

The death march from Janowska along a single road that led to the "The Sands'. The prisoners are herded together by SS guards and walk with their heads bowed toward the ravine where they will be executed outside Lvov in Poland. The guards bearing semi-automatic machine guns order the prisoners to link arms and forbid them to talk or look about. Usually, the victims stood at the edge of the ravine and were then shot in the back of their heads by the SS. They were then kicked into the fires which would cremate evidence of their existence. Hundreds of prisoners could be murdered in this way on any given day at Janowska. Often at the end of the working day, whole work brigades would be led to 'The Sands' and executed. It was not uncommon for prisoners to throw themselves into the burning flames as a way of avoiding any further pain and degradation. 'The death march' was re-drawn after the war (1947). This revised image formalises the drama of the death march by heightening the contrast between light and shadow and by increasing the linearity of the figures and the horizon line.