Auschwitz diorama : getting started/need feedback

I'm sure this is a subject that nobody wants to touch.I'll go out on a limb and say to just browse the internet or do some reading.There are planty of books on the Holocaust.Not to mention the Nazis were fanatical about photo-documenting everything.You could also just build the entrance building to Auschwitz II.Knowing it's history gives it an absolutely evil look.

I like the fact that you are willing to do such a diorama. Something like this should be done, if only to remind others of what really happened, and educate those who have yet to learn. Some ideas I feel would work are leave off the execution line and the hanging, but leave in the punishment scene. Also, unless they did outdoor burnings, leave that off too. I like the idea of Dr. Megele making his "selektion" and for the back, have the bodies from the train being loaded into the truck. One more idea: if you saw "Schindler's List" there's a scene where one of the guards is shooting a woman for no apparent reason. Maybe that can also be depicted to show the cruelty and lack of feeling the Nazis had.

That's my two cents. I hope nobody flames you for your bavery in depicting something that nobody should forget.

God Bless to your father for his bravery and fortitude in enduring that horror, and to you as well for honoring his memory in such a poignant and touching way.

Modeling is about preserving the past-no matter why you do it, you are ultimately contributing to that goal. We all have made the germans, the americans, the brits etc, we all read the magazines with the occupied towns; shatterered trees and historical footnotes. But what you are doing here(i hope it works) is groundbreaking. I have read quite a few people flamed on this subject in these forums-because we are afraid of what people will think. We are so scared of what you plan to do(i don't doubt you are scared too of what reactions might be, or whether you can have the mental capacity to complete this project) of what really happened, and that it was REAL. It was not a picture, it was not a horror story, not a shocking film, but real death, real torture, real horror. Steven King said we are scared of the door in horror stories, but what lies beyond is not as bad as we imagined. Just remember that, or tell people something to that effect to people who don't like what you are doing. God bless you on your 'quest' for a memorial, that has a face to the horror, not anonymity such as the holocaust memorial in germany, or the scary truth in washington dc, but a 3D still life of the sadness. Good luck and may bravery and strenght go with you.

Thanks for the kind and thoughtful replies. I will post pictures as the progress progresses under the moniker "Auschwitz diorama." Thanks again.

I'll be looking forward to seeing those pics. Stay the course, stay strong, and may God guide your hand.

I'm not sure I'm gettiing this...the combat scene in the front...is that supposed to be part of the overall scene? If so, having Mengele and much of the rest of the action doesn't seem to blend. Also, IIRC, the camps were abandoned before being overtaken.

QUOTE: Originally posted by frasercz Tell me how far I should go with this nightmare. I was filled with sadness at times, making these horrid vignettes and imagining what my father went through. My goal is to make something good enough to be displayed at the local high school, or even the Holocaust Museum in Washington, from which I was inspired.

Before making plans to display it, I'd check with the school and contact the museum to see if they'd be interested. It's such a sensitive subject, anyone considering displaying it would want to know beforehand the credentials of the artist.

i think the defining thing about this dio would be the figs, how they look, and how you paint them, both the living and the dead. thats gonna be your most telling aspect

You're to be commended for attempting this diorama. A subject too long neglected by us modelers, IMHO.

Some thoughts:

(1) If you're going to have a selection vignette, you may want to consider including the camp orchestra.

(2) I believe ajlafleche is correct about the camps being abandoned before the arrival of the Red Army.

(3) It's a LONG way from the selection area to each of the gas chambers. Even at 1/72 your diorama is going to be several feet long, and will, I suspect, require more than 3 administative buildings. especially if you're going to include some towers. That would require you to model the entire railroad platform area, which is something like three-quarters of a mile long (maybe longer - can't recall). This won't be impossible to model, but will require some careful planning, and perhaps more work than you'd like.

(4) Don't forget that much of the work in Auschwitz was performed by kapos, not by the SS. You'll want to keep the proportion of SS to kapos pretty low.

Good luck. I look forward to seeing your photos.

Before you get too into construction,do some serious research.This type of project demands it.

"Auschwitz Death Camp, Oswieciem, Poland, January 1945"

Thank you for your awesome ideas and feedback! I'm taking it all into deep consideration. Here's how my diorama is going so far:

It will be 60" long and 24" deep, with a photo-realistic, painted background showing the rest of the camp and the entrance to Auschwitz II-Birkenau.

Auschwitz 1 was originally a Polish military barracks from WWI. The Nazis converted it to a prison camp after their invasion of 1939. It had over twenty buildings, mostly two-story brick. Writer Ummeli is absolutely right in his description of the railroad platform. It's too big to make, as is all of Auschwitz. If I made the camp to scale, the people would be like ants. If I made it in 1/35, it would probably be fill my house. To give the proper respect without losing its story power, I'm making one SS administration building, the entrance building,two prisoner barracks, a crematorium with underground gas chamber and undressing room, and three guard towers. It will look like this:

From left to right, the SS administration building and entrance gate (with the famous "Arbeit Macht Frei" slogan on the iron gate), the triple fence, the first and second prisoner barracks, the crematorium and gas chamber, then the cremation pit and last guard tower.

The figures make up all the action. After the SS admin bldg. and triple-fence, a vignette of the kapos and SS disciplining a prisoner at the whipping table while other prisoners watch. Between the first and second prisoner barracks, a menacing but tastefully done vignette of an execution line, with SS making copious notes. After the second barracks, a vignette of a prisoner being forced to the gallows by a kapo. Under the crematorium is the undressing chamber, with civilians undressing, and an empty gas chamber. After this, a pile of dead bodies and the cremation pit, along with bodies being unloaded from a train's cattle car. Smoke is coming from the chimney of the crematorium. The buildings will be lighted from the inside, so you can see the SS offices, what the barracks looked like, and the crematorium ovens. The triple fence will also be lighted with HO scale street lights.

In the foreground is a long line of civilians walking somberly to the gas chambers, Dr. Josef Mengele making a "selektion," and some prisoners on a work detail.

I want to make a small vignette of Germans fighting the liberating Russians, even though, like you guys said, that never happened on death camp grounds. I want to show the Russian liberators fighting the Germans. My father was actually liberated by Americans after a death march into Germany. Will this work? I'm not sure, it might make the diorama too busy, or it may detract from the atrocities. I will include it in my photos, and, hopefully, you can help me make a decision as to its appropriateness.

To go with the diorama, I am writing up a scene-by-scene explanation for each vignette and structure to give the viewer a detailed explanation of what's going on. Like in a museum display, this will have each vignette numbered according to the action above.

How does this sound? Pictures will folow when I get them developed and can figure out how to send them.

P.S. I'm wasn't going to include the camp orchestra because a lot of people, including my father, never saw it. But if I can find 1/72 scale figures playing instruments, it would make a good, if bizarre, filler for some space near the prisoner barracks as the line of civilians walks by. It would also make a great reflection of the insanity of the place. I'll start looking for those figures. Thanks again, ummeli. Thaks to you all for your thoughtful replies.

History has a bad habit of repeating its self, yes research any way you can, build the diorama, teach the younger generation that thing can happen again!
Your father will be proud of the work done, don't worry what or how it will come to you.

First I would applaud your efforts and commend you for taking on the task. From what I have read, you seem to be looking for ideas on completing the various themes you have going on. I might recommend that if you are using HO scale structures that you try to stay to scale with figures and vehicles. There are a myriad of figures from Preiser in that scale and vehicles are no problem either. This will allow you to fit more on the platform size your have chosen too.

most importantly, you should make a plaque to go in the front explaining it and how it should never reaccur, since you definitely don't want it to be misinterpreted. both my grandparents were survivors, so i feel connected to this too

Thanks again! The HO scale structures mix well with HO scale figures, but I already spent a lot of money on 1/72 scale figures and vehicles. Together, their appearance is okay, but not fantastic. When I post the photos, I'll definitely need some feedback. Thanks for watching this forum!

I plan to make a long plaque with a detailed explanation of each vignette, complete with black silhouettes, museum-style, so there'll be no doubt of my intent to expose the Nazis for what they were: murdering scum. They killed my father in those camps. He survived another fifty years until he died in 2004, but he never escaped the constant nightmares, alcoholism, survivor guilt, and fear of starvation. When he died, I emptied out a three-month supply of food hoarded in his refrigerator. Plus I inherited all his guns, which he kept loaded in case they came to take him away again.

Thanks to all for reading and giving me feedback. When I get my photo-CD back from the developers, I will post pictures, assuming my e-machine computer can translate and send them.

I think this is a project well worth taking up. I will do one one day in 1/35 scale ( a smaller diorama than yours of course). Best of luck! God Bless!

Perry Lockhart
Shell Point

Man, this is heavy stuff. I commend your effort and look forward to the finished product. My wife's great uncle was in Dachau. The internet makes the world a small place, don't you think?

it sounds like you re either doing a very BIG dio or a series of small vignettes. if u r doing a bunch of vignettes then, i would omit some of them, they might a bit too much when u already have a crematorium, and selection.
i made a small vignette of the entrance, with the train tracks, a couple barracks and gaurd towers out of balsa, i didnt spend much time on it (polish school project) but it was (i think) enough and gave the message.
but i see that what ur doing is very sentimental so godspeed, you can find a lot of birds eye view pictures off the internet, and i bet u can find many books with pictures that would help you.

In re-reading this thread, I really think you should reconsider the battle at the front. While one can accept dramatic license in the lliberation part, it would set a very dissonent tone to have all the activities you describe going on inside, while a battle raged just outside the gates. Mengele choosing additional victims while the place is being assaulted doesn't ring true. A figure as high ranking as that would have been kept away forman encroaching force, particularly an armored column. Punising an inmate while your facility is under fire is not good use of manpower.

My goodness what guts you have.
First may i say God rest your fathers soul ,he's seen the horrors of this earth and is now in a better place.
Secondly i hope you have lots of experience with kit bashing and rebuilding figures,if not......WAIT .....remember Speilsberg had the playwrite for 16 years before he felt that he had enough experience to do the movie justice.Your subject is wonderful but have a clear idea of your finished model, skcetch it THEN START.
I love to make big dioramas and let me share with you some of my experiences. Sometimes if it's too big you lose the concentration of the viewer and making a series of smaller ones catches thier attention better . I once made one so big i couldn't get it out of the room and was then wondering why nobody appreciated all the detail,i was told it was overwhelming. I also enjoy building historical dioramas but keep in mind not everybody shares your enthusiasm and the people you least expect will tears you down. I am an Armenian living in Los Angeles California I Built a large Diorama of the Armenian Massacre that took place in 1915 by the Turks. 2000,000 Armenians were slautered and all this started on April 24th 1915 . In 1988 when i built this dio. it was brought to the attention of a group of Armenian art exibitors and they asked me to enter it in an art competion comemerating the massacre. Perfect you might think........i was disqualifed for being too violent and graphic.GO FIGURE any way long story short , dont be suprised if you get strong crititism for it. The important this is you do this for yourself and your dad.
My most recent Dio. was of the crucifiction of Jesus. Talk about not being popular. There you have it you have to do it for yourself. Do LOTS of research the more you do the more accurate it becomes.If i can help with any techniques Email me vicken67@yahoo.com .Goodluck can't wait to see it when you're done

What a fitting tribute indeed. I look forward to your progress on this. Please keep us up-to-date.

I agree with the above posters. Do not let the ones who are critical discourage you. You know why you are making this dio and that is all that matters.

Please keep us posted on your progress and let us know if we can be of any assistance to you.

Dear Ajlafleche, you are absolutely right: when I did a dry-run setup, it looked ridiculous having a skirmish outside the gates. (O, but I spent so much time on that Tiger tank! And those Russian infantry figures from Preiser cost so much money!) When I took the skirmish away, the viewer's attention was immediately diverted back to the atrocity vignettes, which is the most important part. After I finished all the vignettes, that whipping table looks particularly horrifying. Can you imagine having your pants pulled down and butt whipped in front of everybody in the middle of a death camp? And solely to humiliate you? That vignette is almost as scary as the execution line. Incidentally, my sweet wife took a look at the Mengele "selektion" vignette and really was horrified and saddened for the people who had to suffer there.

I have a new question for everyone. Since I'm working in 1/72 scale, how do I make the ground appear like beaten earth, while giving something for my figures to stand on? I have glued my figures to sheet styrene, then I'm laying down glue and sprinkling "fine ballast" and "fine earth" on top, but it looks like they're standing in powder. How can I flatten this?

P.S. Wait till you see the pictures!

One suggestion for standing the figures. Build the ground all beaten where you want the figures to stand. Then remove the tyrene sheets from the bottom of the figures. Next, use a small pinvisedrill and one of the smaller bits to drill a small hole in the heel of the figures you want to place. Then CA glue a short extension of copper or brass wire in the heel, leaving some sticking out so that the figures are able to be stuck into the ground. Be sure to make the wire long enough to hold, and if necessary, drill a hole in the Dio base to place the wire into. Apply CA glue to the wire before pushing into the base, making sure that there isn't too much on the wire pin so it doesn't leak out from under the boots.

I hope this idea helps you. I can't wait to see pics!

QUOTE: Originally posted by Duke Maddog I'll be looking forward to seeing those pics. Stay the course, stay strong, and may God guide your hand.

That says it right there! You are not only building a personal dio, but something that will speak deeply to many people. I was planning for some time to do a cattle car dio, but I haven't had the time. With dedication, any diorama can speak strongly.

Good luck, and show many progress pics.

QUOTE: Originally posted by ummeli (2) I believe ajlafleche is correct about the camps being abandoned before the arrival of the Red Army.

He's right. When the Red Army arrived, the camps were all abandoned, and I beleive one of the crematoriums was destroyed. We watched a movie on it in social this year. (not that it matters) Many of the survivors were left to rot in their barraks and were to afraid to leave.

Sounds like an original Idea, and a difficult one at that, ummm, have fun!?

-Tigertankman

WOW.... I got into this hobby to relax myself. The thought of ME doing a death camp I couldnt imagine! Even the thinking of how I would do it now makes me feel nauseated.

But I'M GLAD to hear that you have the fortitude (especially with a father that was a prisoner there) to do it!!! We all need people like you that have the guts to do the hard stuff and not try and lock it away and forget about it.

WHen I lived in Germany I toured Dachau...and those images will live with me forever. Espeically the areas around the camp where there were so many ash pits that NOTHING will grow.

God rest your fathers soul.... my hat is off to him!

I look forward to seeing your progress!