Beginning of the friendship with Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal1988
"Not even the children were spared; they, too, fell victim to the destruction.It was Gottfried Helnwein's most convincing idea to present the consequences to this "period without mercy" in such an unconventional manner. He made no use of photos of heaped corpses; children's portraits force the observer to stop and consider this idea. The fury with which the neo-nazis reacted to these portraits is understandable inasmuch as it is the very same fury with which they have for years been fighting against The Diary of Anne Frank; the murder of children rouses abhorrence and conflict in every human, whether they are motivated by ideology or insanity. The urge to destroy has survived; the portraits bear witness to its rage - an attempt was made to cut them to shreds. "People, please, stop,... look at these children's faces, multiply their number by a few hundred thousand. Only then will you realise or gain an inkling of the extent of this holocaust, of the greatest tragedy in human history!"
Gottfried Helnwein, Ninth November NightCatalogue for thr Installation "Ninth November night"Museum Ludwig Cologne 17.9. - 30.11.1988Museé de l'Elysée Lausanne 22.6. - 30.8.1990
Gottfried Helnwein - Ninth November NightMuseum of Tolerance, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los AngelesDocumentary "Ninth November Night" , Children and the Holocaust in the Art of Gottfried HelnweinJonathon KeatsNovember 9, 2003