Has anybody done a dio for the concentration camps? Well, just wondering
I am not sure but Dave posted a link to a nice dio about German Jews being lead to a train. It is somewhere in the past diorama pages I suppose.
I once did one for the Boer-war, first concentration camp ever.
Thanks, to our british compratriots for inventing the concept.
Tempted on doing a Russian one my grandfather when he was still alive talked to me alot about his time in one.
OTOH, doing a japanese one might be interesting too. Now where to get hold of 1/35 figures of Takeshi Beat & David Bowie.
MadModelFactory,
If I remember my history timeline, was Andersonville before the Boer-War?
That was a hell hole based on records!
.
Lost me there, the Boer War was 1899 ~ 1902 .
But some say that it was the Spanish that used it and the term during the Cuban insurrection(1868~1878) that had one before it and the next one was by America in the Philippines(1898).
[:D]
Either way it has quiet a long history, pity is that the term “Concentration Camp” is now often mistakenly used to refer to “Death Camps” as well.
Andersonville was during the American Civil War 1864-1865, and it was called a prison camp but was later understood as being a concentration camp. Here is a bit of info, take a look it is a bit shocking.
http://www.east-buc.k12.ia.us/98_99/CW/andersonville/intro.htm
Scroll to the bottom of this article and check out what it was like, Just like the Nazi’s prisoners!
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWandersonville.htm
Yup, sounds bad.
My Grandfather told me a few things about his time in the Russian camps, sounded he was talking about a German Camp too.
Poor food( tiny slice of bread and a cup of soup/stew), prisoners being transfered to other “camps” in trucks that had NO exhaust pipes, etc.
Didn’t know about Andersonville but than US history for us was more of a side-subject, we had 3000yrs of european & middle eastern history to cover.
20th Century history was a separate class.
Hi,
I am new to the forum and have some dio experience, I am just beginning a project to make a 1/72 dio of Andersonville. I am using bits and pieces from many different kits including figures from Imex, Revell, Iteri and others. My plan will include scenes from the Turner movie as well as research from books and pictures. I will show the deadline and have a prisioner being shot for crossing it. I will have a dead wagon picking up bodies, etc. Canvas covers will be made from old sailing ship model sails, etc. Just starting so it will be awile before I have anything to share.
MF
This is a very touchy subject and unless very carefully done, you’ll get a lot of flak about it if you plan on displaying it. IPMS’s National rules allow this only in a restricted access area. At another site, there was a big to do about a very powerful Holocaust related diorama depicting the execution of civilians.
No kidding. My grandfather was in the Battle of the Bulge in WW2 and he doesn’t even want to talk about it because of the battle and because of what the Nazis left behind. I would never do a holocaust dio. I want to bring the realizm of war to the public, but concentration camps were full of unspeakable and un-modelable horrors. You could do it I guess, but it would just offend so many people. I think there is a line that you can’t cross when modeling bad things like that and I wouldn’t want to cross it. I’m not trying to hide what happened, I just don’t think it needs to be modeled. It’s fine with civilians going into a train, but to model the actual atrosities would be horrible.
I too have also thought about modeling a dio fo said subject, but upon reflection my opinion is that of armormaster …doing a train is almost over that line that divides tasteful and down right unacceptable. But that is just my opinion
Years ago, FSM had a dio of a Cambodian refuge bus on its cover. I remember thinking even at that time (I was 14 or so) that the subject was very depressing.
I guess some people feel compelled to make a diorama of an atrocity or disaster of some sort.
Regards,
We as modelers have been given a talent and I think we shouldn’t abuse it, but use it in great ways. If people want to learn about the halocaust or conc. camps they can read a history book or go to a museum, but if they are going to a modeling show to relax and have fun I don’t want to ruin it by putting something there that doesn’t belong. The pain of war shouldn’t be sugar coated if we show it in a dio but there are things that are and are not aprriopriate to do.
Hey, welcome to the forums Mike!
Can’t wait to see your dio.
Matt
Oh, and back on subject, there is lot to be said for good intentions, but depending on the actual depiction, this is one area where those intentions are going to be questioned.
Matt
Thanks for all your comments. I assure you, my interest in this subject is not sensational or crass. I am a university professor who teaches teachers. One of my best friends teaches the book Red Cap. This is a story of a drummer boy who along with his unit is captured and sent to Andersonville. He draws the attention of the conferate commandant and is asked to drum drills for the camp garrison. He does so and smuggles food and goods into the camp for his friends inside. So essentially, the scene will capture images from the book. I have done extensive research and will not in any way sensationalize the idea. As a teacher, I know it is important to keep a balance in what is displayed.
On a technical question, do most of you remove the base from figures, even at 1/72 scale? and what is the best way to attach them to the ground?
Mike F
What a paradox? There is a sense of squeamishness of the atrocities committed at Auschwitz, and yet we gladly model the Enola Gay or bombers used in the attack on Dresden. 7th Cavalry Troopers look great unless you put them in a diorama riding down and sabre slashing indian children and women. SS Officers seem touchy but Mongol Chieftans win shows yet the Mongols exterminated 29 million people during the Golden Horde.
I’m not picking a fight with anyone, just tumbling the various and valid ideologies over out loud. The forum has fostered several discussions regarding these subjects and in each case I think what it came down to was build what you want to build, don’t get upset if someone blows a fuse on you if you enter it in a show. (There isn’t a perfect piece that will not offend or cannot have some sort of offense correlated with it that someone can pick at.) Its no ones decsion but yours what you should, can or cannot build. If IPMS judges feel it is inappropriate they can put it behind a barrier for controlled viewing. Otherwise you roll the dice and take your chances. If we tried to accomodate everyones sensibilities, we wouldn’t build anything.
Good luck and send us some pics (with appropriate warnings if necessary) when you’re finished.
I like to shave any bases off the figures as it will be easier to moun them and you won’t have to worry about covering the base. Run some wires up the legs and use them to attach to the ground work.
Mike
Thanks, Mike.
I will send pix along the way. A key to this discussion is that many of the model we have all built are artifacts of war. So, how we show them or arrange them is key. It is unique, too in the research that Andersonville is called a concentration camp as was Elyria in New York.
Thanks for the encouragement.
MF
What a great discussion! This is what keeps me coming back to the diorama forum.