Re-seeding the fields of death

Place Europe: Poland
Accession Number ART90360
Collection type Art
Measurement sheet 23 x 29.4 cm (irreg.); image 20.4 x 25 cm (irreg.)
Object type Work on paper
Physical description pencil on paper
Maker Slawik, Bernard
Place made Poland: Lwow
Date made c 1943
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright

Description

In this sketch we see two sets of barbed wire fences and a sentry tower. These fences were used to isolate the men's barracks at the Janowska concentration camp. Altogether there were four sentry towers posted around the perimeter of these barracks. The two figures standing on the mound are scattering grass seed. The object outside the fence seems to be a plough or a barrow. At Janowska, men, not horses ploughed the fields. This image confirms the final step in obliterating all evidence of the existence of the Jews and making it "Judenrein" (clean of Jews). After corpses were exhumed and incinerated the earth was re-ploughed and re-sown as if nothing had taken place.

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