Memorial sculpture group ‘to the memory of prisoners of war and victims of concentration camps 1914–1945’

Memorial sculpture group ‘to the memory of prisoners of war and victims of concentration camps 1914–1945’, c.1967-69 by Fred Kormis, sited at Gladstone Park, Dollis Hill.

This group comprises five fibreglass resin sculptures with bronze powder. Four male seated figures occupy a series of stepped platforms, with a fifth standing at the margin of the group. The platforms are clad in dark brindled brick paviours and surrounded by a cobbled surface of pebbles set into cement with a paviour border. The group is set against a sloping wall of shuttered reinforced concrete, painted white. A plaque on the retaining wall behind reads ‘TO THE MEMORY OF / PRISONERS OF WAR / AND VICTIMS OF / CONCENTRATION CAMPS / 1914–1945’.

Although the seated figures are arranged in contrasting postures they depict male figures of similar appearance, with swaddling-like wound strips of clothing, as if the same individual is shown at different states or conditions. Kormis described the sequence of figures as 'a five-chapter novel, each chapter describing a successive state of mind of internment: stupor after going into captivity; longing for freedom; fighting against gloom; hope lost; and hope again.' This suggests the sequence is meant to be read from left to right; the final standing figure, with arms gazed aloft and an upwards gazed, representing hope.

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 9 February 2017.