Auschwitz Concentration Camp Main Entrance Diorama

[Paper Kosmonaut]

I do full-heartedly agree with Diderick. This is not something you make a model of. The excuse of "remembering the atrocities" is not relevant here, in my opinion. This model is in itself a gross banality.
Remembering those atrocities is done either in Oswiecim itself or at remembrance days or monuments for that occasion.

Atrocities like what happened there are just not good modelling subjects. The line between what is acceptable and what is not is thin, maybe, but even as a way of remembering I think this is just out of the question.
(and that's all I want to say about it.)

[Vermin_King]

I guess we better pull the models of the Coliseum, too and the World Trade Center. I cannot follow that logic, but you are entitled to your opinions and have every right to not build the model. I will not be building it, but I congratulate Mauther on the thought process in designing it, and the design itself.

[Hiob]

I did not want to post here, because I am not able to be impartial. I am Polish and I have been in Auschwitz museum. I understand your point of making this model Mauther, but using this as diorama or as a model on it's own is not clear for me. If you are going to make this are you also going to make the gas chambers? Or the crematory? There is a lot written here about this model being a reminder, but the biggest memorial for the victims of Holocaust is not making this model. It is our Forum, where people of many different nationalities and from many different cultures can talk together and share their knowledge without intolerance or prejudice.

Vermin King, I understand your opinion, but I think if everyone would see Auschwitz, not on a tape at home, but really be there, you would think differently. It is something that stays in you through your whole life. And yes, I think making Coloseums or WTC is not giving honour to the victims of those times.

I cannot comprehend how someone could make a model like this and have it "exhibited" at home. But if anyone would be tempted to do this I advice him to go to places like this first. Maybe in a thousand years this topic will not get so emotional, but in opinion it's way too soon.

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Hiob and Paper Kosmonaut: I am very grateful for your support.

[mcusanelli]

I'm, not sure what to say about this. I can't understand why anyone would want to build this and have it in their home. I think it's repulsive and sick. . I agree with Hiob completely. I'm going to stop writing now before I loose my diplomacy.....

[ashevilleangler]

I fully appreciate Mauther's talent and want to continue to see his work presented here. Speaking only for myself I understand Mauther's reason for creating this diorama model. However it should have been presented with that reason when posted on this site. From the Papermau site:

For those who ask why this model, why this theme, I respond with the little saying below:
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - This saying appears in many different forms, but the earliest version is probably that of the poet and philosopher George Santayana, from the book Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense, Scribner's, 1905, page 284.

And I fully understand why someone who has been personally affected by the Holocaust would be revolted by the very sight of the model. All designers must exercise caution when presenting such sensitive subjects. Unfortunately the damage has already been done on this thread.

A thread-starting post with a disclaimer and a link to the Papermau site instead of a photo of the actual model would have been much more appropriate.

Curt

[Tom Greensfelder]

I think this has been a very interesting thread and a thoughtful discussion. I can fully understand people's rejection of the idea that such a paper model should exist, but I also think the point is well made that there is no shortage of instruments of war on this site.

There's even a current build thread on the Enola Gay which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima resulting in the instantaneous deaths of thousands, but it didn't provoke this kind of discussion.

Finally this is not the first paper model of its kind. A number of year's ago I ran across this model of Anne Frank's house. Is this inappropriate as a model or valuable as a reminder of a world we should never want to return to?

[Retired_for_now]

Those who see a monument to atrocity - good to remember the worst of history.
Those who see it in bad taste - good for you as it shows your humanity/empathy.
Both sides of the discussion reflect well on the individuals' commentary.
Yogi

[Paper Kosmonaut]

I really wanted to leave it to one comment here, but I really think some people are missing a point here.

The Coliseum has been a place filled with atrocities, that's true. And the WTC attacks were also terrible. But it stands in no comparison to what happened during the holocaust.
This building is nothing less than the symbol for gates to a brutal and painful death for millions of innocent people. It is symbol to a recent period in history which still lives quite vividly in Europe and is not thought lightly of. Lots of people still living have relatives and people they knew that perished in these death camps.
You cannot try and make a model of these gates and release them with the idea that this adds to any remembrance or honouring the victims. You cannot be serious in believing you can actually make a holocaust memorial out of a paper model like that. This model is not able to honour the 1,1 million deaths of Auschwitz.

"Het Achterhuis", the place Anne Frank hid during the war, is not so much a place where atrocities happened, but more a place where people could hide for these atrocities. In the Netherlands there still are quite a couple more of those places from several eras, even secret churches from the time of the reformation, when protestants were hunted, prosecuted and killed. The hiding places and hidden churches they used are remnants of the shelter and safety they could find. There is something comforting in that. I don't see any problem in that being a model/diorama. With Anne Frank's diary accompanying the model, it even might have some educational value.

And bombs, tanks, jet fighters, dreadnoughts, they're all just inanimate (and often fascinating) pieces of technique. They only become dangerous in the hands of people.

[mauther]

I do not know what to say about all this controversy. When I did this model, not think it would generate so much controversy. My English is not good enough to debate and thank the many comments against and in favor this model. I can only say I'm glad no comments have been edited by moderators. Opinions, as I said, each has his and I respect that. I do not intend to refute each of the comments against it because as I said, I do not have the resourcefulness and linguistic field for that, and besides, as I said also, opinions, everyone has their.

Sorry by bad English and greetings from Brazil!