The Selection - Auschwitz, Poland

People disembark the trains. Unseen are the Nazis and attack dogs directing the flow. (The artist will not memorialize them.) The Selection: You to the right, you to the left. Some to the barracks, some to the gas chambers. Good-byes are often mute, or altogether impossible. Still, there are other messages to be learned. The weary people trudge on a road lined with Yom Kippur liturgy…"This is a day of judgement. On this day it will be decided who will live and who will die, who by fire and who by flood….." During Holocaust every day was Yom Kippur, and each day was a day of judgement. This sculpture begs to ask each of you, "What decision made by you today will significantly affect the lives of your children and grandchildren?" This is especially critical if you are a young person who has not ever given thought to those generations of descendants yet to come into being. In your hundreds of daily choices have you ever considered future implications? Can you even comprehend a world where "Do you stay or do you leave" could instantly translate to, "Do you live or do you die - for all generations of your family yet to come".
Artist Note: This sculpture is specifically entitled, for it seems that many people no longer know or remember that the concentration camp, Auschwitz, was actually in Poland. It is both important to know and to remember this fact.

Description:         Terra Cotta
Ht. 4.25"     L. 70"     W. 30"     Wt. 21 lbs.

 

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