Zinowij Tolkaczew [Tolkatchev]. Maydanek – A Destruction Camp.

Tolkatchev was a Russian artist who enlisted in the Red Army. In 1944, he was stationed on the Ukrainian front, near Majdanek. Horrified by what he witnessed, Tolkatchev spent a month painting scenes from within the newly liberated death camp. The Polish-Soviet Nazi Crimes Investigation Commission encouraged Tolkatchev’s work and in November 1944, his exhibition of Majdanek paintings became one of the earliest artistic depictions to publicly document the Nazi death camps. When this portfolio was published soon after, in February 1945, the Polish Government sent copies to Allied heads of states and government and military officers. Looking back on his work, Tolkatchev wrote, “I did what I had to do; I couldn’t refrain from doing it. My heart commanded, my conscience demanded.” Today these works are in the collection of the Yad Vashem Museum, Jerusalem. Accompanied by: Yad Vashem Catalogue, Private Tolkatchev at the Gates of Hell – Majdanek and Auschwitz Liberated: Testimony of an Artist. (2005).