It was Gottfried Helnwein's intention to remind us admonishingly of exceptional laws and the abhorrent Aryan theory of Eugenics. The series of childrens' portraits stigmatises racial ideology and it exudes an extraordinary force. Moreover, it is this radial energy which provoked the knife attack by a nostalgic, as the monumental pictures were being exhibited between the cathedral and Museum Ludwig in Cologne.
I admire the work of Gottfried Helnwein a great deal. This photographic testimony encourages reflection and provokes the examination of conscience, which is necessary for every one of us where racism is concerned. The laceration of the portraits is proof of the fact that we cannot be indifferent to the warning of the "final solution". I consider myself lucky to be able to exhibit this gallery of memories in its present form in Lausanne. There are also a number of photographers from the East to be found there, in the name of the new emerging Europe, now that totalitarianism is being forced back. The childrens' faces are to remind us that innumerable victims were needed during the past sixty years to get out of "the Night and the Fog."
Museé de l'Elysée, Lausanne, 22.6. - 30.8.1990
