Exhibition “Prisoners of Nazism: Victims or Victors”
On May 12, an exhibition featuring the works of artists Ekaterina Kudryavtseva and Petr Grigoriev took place in Vienna. The event was dedicated to Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War and the anniversary of the liberation of prisoners from the Mauthausen concentration camp.
A central element of the exhibition was the portrait gallery of former concentration camp inmates, created by Ekaterina Kudryavtseva specifically for this occasion. The monumental character of these works affirms the memory of those who survived the horrors of Mauthausen between 1938 and 1945.
The concentration camp was not far from beautiful Vienna and very close to the town of Mauthausen, from which it took its name. The camp was one of the most brutal and terrifying places during the Third Reich, and its legacy still chills the soul today. Over the years of its existence, more than a hundred thousand citizens of different countries of the world were shot, tortured, died in gas chambers or from lethal injections, from cold, hunger or disease, abuse, from ruthless exploitation.
In these portraits, Ekaterina Kudryavtseva presents the former prisoners as witnesses, victims, and heroes—those who endured and survived captivity. The large scale of the portraits creates an overwhelming sense of the subjects' presence, allowing visitors to feel the pain and despair they once experienced.
The work “Angels Take Martyrs to Paradise” displays the high Gospel meanings when, according to the parable told by Jesus Christ, Lazarus, who spent his life in poverty and torment, was taken by angels to heaven, while the rich owner, at whose house the martyr Lazarus spent his life, was taken to torment in hell.
The exhibition also features a large-format work by Petr Grigoriev consisting of two parts. The left panel depicts Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, welcomed by a crowd that lays colorful garments along His path. The right panel presents the trial before Pontius Pilate, where the very same crowd—now incited by the high priests who conspired to kill Christ—cries out, “Crucify him, crucify him!”
This striking contrast between the two scenes turns the exhibition into a powerful reflection on human nature. It serves as a reminder—and a warning—that when humanity forgets or betrays its core spiritual values, the consequences can be devastating. As the artist suggests, such moral collapse can ultimately lead to atrocities like the creation of the Nazi concentration camp system.
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