Pile of shoes with group of figures, Janowska concentration camp, Poland

The pile of shoes have been taken from the casualties in the Jewish concentration camp of Janowska, and show with horror the growing rate of deaths. Other inmates observe their fate as silent witnesses. The artist makes his intention explicit by including skulls as symbols. Janowska, like many other concentration camps, piled the shoes, clothes, documents and bodies of its victims. This image was particularly common after the war when photographers entered the liberated camps. The Janowska forced labour camp was situated in the city of Lvov, Poland in Eastern Galicia. It was seen as a model camp of cruelty and was a training centre for Nazi officers. Established late in 1941 as a forced labour camp for Jews and a minority of non-Jewish criminals. The Lvov Ghetto provided much of the labour force for Janowska. At the outset, Janowska consisted of a number of factories manufacturing armaments. By mid 1943 it had evolved into an extermination camp while also serving as a transit camp in which thousands of Jews passed on their way to the gas chambers at Belzec. It is estimated that between 300,000 and 400,000 Jews passed through Janowska.