This statue has a lot of raw power for me. One woman stands erect, futilely raising her hands to shield herself and the child who hides behind her. A man stretches out his bound wrists, looking directly towards his executioners with mournful eyes. While his body is bent his head, like the woman’s is erect. He may have no choice but to accept his death, yet he doesn’t show surrender. By his side lie another man and woman. This man has head bowed. His head slumps between his shoulders, his arms seeming to strain to hold his body off the ground. He has perhaps already been shot. The second woman cries out, holding a hand to her face – she too, has perhaps already been struck with bullets.
I know nothing of the provenance of the work, and so my thoughts are but baseless conjecture. I find myself wondering if the style here is in part due to the victims in this ravine including a significant fraction of non-Jews. I say this knowing it is quite possibly entirely unfair. I’m just taken with the range of ways those murdered by state action are depicted.
