Introduction
Throughout history, art may be regarded as the most ancient method of human expression. Since carved fertility figures and cave paintings that appeared long before the invention of counting and writing, art has helped people to express their emotions, feelings, ideas, and themselves. In the present day, through art, contemporaries may perceive different historical periods through the prism of their depiction by creative individuals of those times. In this paper, through the painting and its artist’s interpretation, the Holocaust that has already become the symbol of unprecedented violence against humanity and people’s sufferings will be examined.
General Background
Historians define the Holocaust as “the systematic state-sponsored killing of six million Jewish men, women, and children and millions of others by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II” (Barenbaum). In Germany, the Jews were proclaimed as being “an evil race struggling for world domination” on the basis of political and religious anti-Semitism (Barenbaum). Soon after the Nazis came to power, they adopted measures to discriminate against the Jews and exclude them from the social, political, economic, and cultural life of Germany.
In addition, viewed as racial polluters and German society’s cancer, the Jews were additionally blamed for values they introduced, including compassionate assistance, help to the weak, and social justice. According to Hitler, the natural order implied the belonging of unrestrained power to the strongest and most powerful individuals. Thus, social equity would inevitably lead to the master race’s weakening or even defeat. Subsequently, within the framework of “final solution to the Jewish question,” the murder of all Jews in the territory of Europe was planned (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). In addition, on the basis of seeming biological and racial inferiority and ideological, political, and behavioral grounds, Gypsies, Black people, Russian, Poles, and other Slavic peoples, Soviet war prisoners, Socialists, Communists, homosexuals, and Jehovah’s Witnesses were targeted and prosecuted as well.
Art and Holocaust
At the same time, the Holocaust cannot be regarded only as of the best-known genocide of the 20th century. It has already become “a household word, a “master moral paradigm,” in one scholar’s phrasing, unparalleled in its enormity and scope and, whether appropriately or not, the point of comparison for all other major disasters” (Magilow and Silverman 1). It is represented by photographs, documents, testimonies, novels, memoirs, interviews, monuments, films, artworks, dramas, and other depictions. At the same time, its interpretation cannot be a straightforward endeavor as the Holocaust is not a set of agreed-upon and recognizable facts. However, art provides an opportunity to see the Holocaust through the eyes of witnesses and perceive it through their emotions and experience. As a matter of fact, Holocaust art includes several types, such as art created by witnesses and victims, post-war art, and Nazi propaganda imagery. The paper’s painting under analysis refers to the first type.
In general, the art dedicated to Holocaust predominantly shows the pain and suffering brought not only to the Jews but to people of other nationalities and social groups condemned to work in inhuman conditions, tortures, and death in concentration camps. It depicts the darkest episodes of human history and horrors that a man of today cannot even imagine. Although a considerable number of pieces of art related to that period address the war, a prevalent number of works refer to the horrible treatment of people due to their ethnicity, race, citizenship, or political beliefs. The Holocaust shows how far humanity can delve into evil to complete their goals as the Jews were consistently demonized and blamed for others’ territorial expansion, political and economic dominance, and racial supremacy.
“Holocaust Horror, Blind Man Walking Through the Belsen Concentration Camp” is a piece of art created in 1947 by Alan Moore, an Australian World War II war artist “best known for recording the horrors at the Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camp in northern Germany when it was liberated” (“Alan Moore: Australian War Artist Who Drew Horrors of Nazi Concentration Camp Dies in Victoria”). In the painting, a blind man with bandaged head walks through the Belsen concentration camp after its liberation. He is surrounded by people who probably came to search for their relatives. At the same time, it is possible to see the horrible outcomes of the Holocaust – the prisoners’ dead bodies lying outside.
According to Moore, he created this piece of art to “stop the awfulness, the death of war” (“Alan Moore: Australian War Artist Who Drew Horrors of Nazi Concentration Camp Dies in Victoria”). The whole painting is saturated with an atmosphere of grief and hopelessness. This atmosphere is supported by the use of only dark and gloomy colors; probably, rain is depicted as well. All contours on the painting are slurred, and this technique not only addresses the rain but symbolizes immeasurable horror – the work is literally shaking due to strong emotions.
At the same time, people express various emotions in response to the evil acts of Nazi Germany- on the one hand, the central figure of a man refers to paralyzing shock. He is depicted as a blind person who walked through the camp, was stopped by an obstacle, and suddenly realized what exactly had crossed his way. That is why he stands still, being unable to believe in all that happened. On the other hand, other people do not pay any attention neither to him nor to dead bodies. They symbolize hopelessness, surrendering to fate, and inner grief that cannot leave the viewers indifferent.
Conclusion
From a personal perspective, “Holocaust Horror, Blind Man Walking Through the Belsen Concentration Camp” created by Alan Moore gives an immeasurably strong impression. It reflects all feelings and emotions of people who passed through the time of the Holocaust and lost their relatives and friends – grief, horror, hopelessness, and shock. It goes without saying that the initial goal of this piece of art is to show people how evil mankind can be and how much people suffered at that time. At the same time, this painting should remind people of the 21st century about the horrors of war in order to prevent the same events in the future. Unfortunately, his mission may be defined as highly essential in the present day as the Holocaust is subsequently fading from people’s memory. A considerable number of young people do not have the correct knowledge, and the most disturbing fact is that the Holocaust started to be interpreted in different ways. Thus, people have different feelings in relation to this genocide. It is unacceptable as this biggest crime in human history should always be defined as a crime that should never repeat.
Works Cited
“Alan Moore: Australian War Artist Who Drew Horrors of Nazi Concentration Camp Dies in Victoria.” ABC News, 2015. Web.
Barenbaum, Michael. “Holocaust. European History” Britannica.
Magilow, Daniel H., and Lisa Silverman. Holocaust Representations in History: An Introduction. 2nd ed., Bloomsbury Academic, 2020.
Moore, Alan. “Holocaust Horror, Blind Man Walking Through the Belsen Concentration Camp.” ABC News, 2014.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Introduction to the Holocaust.”United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2021.