Region: Artist faces charges for using death camp victims' ashes

WARSAW, Poland

Polish prosecutors have opened an investigation against a Swedish artist for using the ashes of Nazi death camp victims in one of his paintings. The artwork of Carl Michael von Hausswolff, exhibited in the museum in Lund, has caused controversies both in Sweden and in the museum of a former death camp in Majdanek. The artist, who mixed water with ashes of, as he claims, Nazi crime victims to paint a rectangle, has been vocally criticized by Jewish communities and media throughout the Continent.

"We are shocked and indignant," Majdanek museum representatives wrote in an official statement Dec. 5. "It is certain that the Swedish painter did not come into possession of the Majdanek ashes legally. We hope that appropriate organs will quickly determine if a larceny and a profanation of a camp victims' remains took place."

The 56-year old visual artist explained on the website of a gallery in Lund that he had collected the ashes from the crematorium furnaces during his 1989 visit to Majdanek. But the museum responds that after the liberation of the camp, when the ashes of its victims were to be found throughout the area, they were collected and in 1969 placed in a concrete mausoleum covered with a round cupola.

The Regional Public Prosecutor's Office in Lublin launched the investigation Jan. 8, a month after the case had reached the press. As they informed, according to the Polish Penal Code, anyone who profanes or robs burial sides can face up to eight years in prison.

"The accusations haven't been made yet against anybody. So far we have asked Swedish law enforcement agencies for information and documents," said Beata Syk-Jankowska, the prosecutor's press officer.

Polish newspapers informed readers about the case early last month, right after it was publicized by the Swedish press."

"Picture painted with ashes collected from crematorium furnaces," the headlines stated.

Not many journalists ventured to comment on the issue. The most pointed statement came from Piotr Sarzyński, a cultural commentator of the left-liberal weekly Polityka, who titled his editorial "The moron with a paintbrush."

"Digging through human remains, especially those of individuals exterminated in such a brutal way, is a stupid game played with the audience. I am full of comprehension for artistic courage to cross borders, but it is hard for me to call the Swedish painter something other than just a moron," he writes.

The issue was also addressed by the German press. The strongest reaction was that of Süddeutsche Zeitung, which titled its article "Desecration of a concentration camp."

Due to the scandal it caused, the exhibition in the Swedish city of Lund was closed ahead of time. According to Tomasz Mikołajczak, an art historian at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, none of the Polish museums would ever welcome such "unethical" art on its premises:

"Even though the boundaries of art remains smooth and open for breaking cultural rules, we cannot forget that in this case the censorship is determined by the repentance of Nazi crimes and the victims' dignity and memory," he said.

According to official estimates, Nazis murdered some 80,000 people at Majdanek, three-quarters of whom were Jewish.

Karolina Drogowska can be reached at
regions@praguepost.com