Shared Experience: Refugees in Udine, 1945
Edward Bawden RA
Refugees in Udine, 1945
watercolour on paper
55.2 x 76.2cm
IWM ART LD 5210
Refugees, former “slave labourers”, gather uneasily in the compound, some around a Catholic priest, who is giving out instructions. The Polish prisoners of war are still dressed in their striped clothing. The refugees were part of a particularly complex situation: thousands were on the move, trying to keep ahead of Tito and Stalin’s forces; the Allies advancing into north-east Italy were facing their first stand-offs of the Cold War; and the presence in Udine of armed irregular Serb soldiers only added to the tension. It is not clear whether the refugees are behind wire fences and under armed guard to prevent them escaping or for their own protection.
Paintings
- British Prisoners of War, Italy
Paul Bullard - Blind man in Belsen
Alan Moore - Roberts Hospital, Changi
Murray Griffin - Bodies in a Grave, Belsen
Alex Colville - Human Laundry, Belsen: April 1945
Doris Zinkeisen - Refugees in Udine, 1945
Edward Bawden - British Women and Children Interned in a Japanese Prison Camp, Syme Road, Singapore
Leslie Cole - Yes Sir
Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack