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First off, I'd like to welcome you to my site, I'm rodney vanworth, the artist.
This series of work totals more than 400 drawings, and has taken over 10 years to complete.

The series began accidentally in the Spring of 2001.  I have been drawing since  childhood, and as I was going over some drawings i had done previously, I began to add and subtract from the drawings in front of me, and then from out of no where, came an image that reminded me of the holocaust.  I continued to work on the drawing, and once completed, I began to rework another and then another and another, with holocaust images emerging on each of these new, reworked drawings.  When I draw, I never think about what it is that I shall draw, I just begin, drawing rapidly, allowing my subconscious to be there on the paper.  It is the way I have always drawn and from somewhere in my subconscious , the holocaust series was born.

As I contiuned this series, I began to draw faster and faster, and these reworked books of drawings began it take on a completely new apprearence.   I am primarily a painter, though drawing has always been a major part of my work, and as I continued, the drawings began to take on a language, my language, where the events of the holocaust took on a new and strangely childlike quality, almost as if cartoons, but with a character that became frightening.

          THE  STORY    
 The drawing that is called the first piece in the collection, is that of small kitchen table, which represents the last meal together of a young couple, that early morning just before reporting to the train station.
      They were told they would be going to a work camp, so the things that filled their only suitcase were things they would need, warm gloves and socks, heavy clothes for working and good strong shoes.
     They arrived at the train station and sat the suitcase down.  When told to do so,  they both boarded the train.  As the train left the siding, shock and dread overtook them as they saw their only possessions sitting alone on the platform.  This suitcase is in most of the drawings, which ties many of the works together.  The suitcase represents the material world, and the importance placed on those things that we think we can not do without.
      The word, coming from the guards, was that they were all going to a work camp, but how could this be, there were those too young and those too old to work, along with the ill and enfeebled. 
    When the series began, I drew German soldiers in helmets and uniforms, but as the work continued, and as my thoughts turned to what the people on the trains may have been thinking, the soldier imagery would change.  I realized that had they actually been going to a work camp, it would have been like going for a little holiday, like taking the train to see the big circus in a town just down the tracks.  It was at this point that the helmets of the soldiers began to morph into clown hats and the uniforms into circus costumes.  This was the beginning of what some might consider the cartooning of the drawings, but this is inaccurate, it was the beginning of a metaphor.  The work camp was no longer a place to be avoided, it would have been a place to be embraced, had the people understood their final destination.  It was at this point that I realized the whole thing, every bit of what the Nazis were doing, was a grand deception.  
     The nazis were telling the people a most logical story,  that they were needed to do work, why else would they be going to a work camp.  I'm sure some on the trains did not fall for the ruse, but not even the most cynical, could have ever dreamed of the coming reality, for these were Germans, the most educated and sophisticated of  people.
     There is a saying used by card sharps who sit around a table playing for money. 
"If you don't know who the sucker is, the sucker is you."  All the guards, and those at the train station knew what was going on, but they never told those on the train.  This grand, yet simple deception could only work, if everyone kept the truth to themselves, and since there is no record I can find, of any train revolt, this simple deception worked to perfection.
    This deception was now a holiday trip to the circus.  The Nazis had provided  plenty of false clues.  There were giant facades of big top tents in the distance, and lots of signs along the way, each with happy faces, the bright advertisements of the circus just over the next hill.  The deception was so well played that even until the very last, when the doors of the 'shower' closed, they were still unaware.  It was not water that would come from above, it was something else, and it was at this very moment, that they then knew, the circus was all a lie.
                                                                                                                                                       rodney vanworth

    

                                              THE  GRAND  DECEPTION 
           the foundation, the walls and the roof constructed for the final solution was
                                             THE  GRAND  DECEPTION
                                   THE  GRAND  DECEPTION 


What follows is a KEY to the language of the drawings. 
It is far from a complete list, so please check back often.

If, during your viewing of the drawings, you wish to have an explaination of an image, please send me the url of the image, and, if need be, ill add the explanation to your inquiry in the list below, as well as sending you an email response.  Your inquiry could add greatly to the understanding of the collection, and I thank you in advance.


1.     the forgotten suitcase 
        represents things that people think they can not do without
        http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/2833550_orig.jpg

2.     the victims
        easy to identify.  stripped clothes, behind wire, or anyone being mistreated
       http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/2510790_orig.jpg

3.    the death camps
        locations with smoke stacks     
        http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/4256305_orig.jpg  
        http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/6026448_orig.jpg 

4.     the grand deception
        anything that deals with the circus

5.     glass beakers - gas containers
        represents Zykon B
        the gas is represented by the shape of what could be its microscope image 

        http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/7341453_orig.jpg        
        http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/6780856_orig.jpg     
        http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/6026448_orig.jpg

6.     the "shower head"
        represents the great deception of the gas chamber
        http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/3676015_orig.jpg
             
7.     the ten commandments shape
        when the ten commandments are shown from the front, they represent the faith of the people
        http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/1118694_orig.jpg
        if shown from behind, it represents a lack of jewish faith or understanding of the holocasust      
        http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/9723059_orig.jpg

8.    the smiling locomotive 
        illustrates the zeal with which the nazis operated
        http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/2393390_orig.jpg

9.     the sad faced boxcars
        represents the victims      
        http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/875167_orig.jpg

10.   torah scroll and prayer shawl, along with any jewish symbols
         represents faith.  the jewish people.  the history of the jewish people.  many times these objects will be
         in circumstances of degradation, which represents how the Jews were treated during this time.  
         i believe the degradation of these people was all part of the plan and showed the hatred that was heaped 
         upon them.   
 
         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/6774399_orig.jpg                                  
         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/3936646_orig.jpg
         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/7331480_orig.jpg 

11.    the ice cream cone and all things on a beach
         this represents people of today who are unaware of the past      
         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/6387604_orig.jpg
         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/2704192_orig.jpg

12.    the hour glass         
          represents fleeting time 
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/3414351_orig.jpg

 13.    space ships 
          represent the possibility of another holocaust 
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/5691737_orig.jpg                      
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/9537420_orig.jpg
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/6755163_orig.jpg
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/6233347_orig.jpg          
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/1940833_orig.jpg

14.     clowns
          represent the nazis as well as the grand deception

          clown barrel
          represents the belief of nazi invincibility 
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/362345_orig.jpg

15.    fortress or castle images
         represents the enormity of the concentration camp system
         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/4594398_orig.jpg

16.    nailed books       
         the total disregard for knowledge
         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/9842870_orig.jpg

17.     the only remorseful clown       
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/8419335_orig.jpg 

18.    the kapos         
         any clown that is shown not wearing a swastika.  a kapo in a clown costume with an oxygen tank 
         deals with the gas chambers  

         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/8654774_orig.jpg 
                                                                          
19.    pyramid 
         this is a Jewish temple
         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/2968941_orig.jpg      
         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/8613104_orig.jpg

20.   ovens       
         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/8381217_orig.jpg   
         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/3732746_orig.jpg  

21.   the jack in the box, and all circus images       
         represent the simple deception, the simple lie that the people were going to a work camp  
         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/8781298_orig.jpg

 22.   gas and smoke   
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/6026448_orig.jpg           
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/5681101_orig.jpg

23.    the hawaiian shirt
          represents people today who think nothing of the past,  and are only interested in today.
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/5061942_orig.jpg

24.    the TV room      
          represemts the disregard for the history of the holocaust
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/2456980_orig.jpg

25.   the signs along the rail route
         a part in the deception.  in this example you can see that  on one side 
         is a happy face, the side that faces the victims, on the other is the true intent

         http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/8642542_orig.jpg

26.    the clock with a NAIL 
          when the both hands of the clock are stopped by the nail, a life ends.
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/9481630_orig.jpg

27.    ape/art                 
          this is a reference to an art show put on my the nazis, to illustrate "degenerate art"
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/533700_orig.jpg
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art#The_Entartete_Kunst_exhibit 

28.    the lion
          nazis on the prowl, seeking to devour
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/4750811_orig.jpg
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/4370874_orig.jpg     
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/2600836_orig.jpg

29.    the ladder
           represents hope.  in the series, the ladder is never tall enough to get over the wall.  
           the ladder is sometimes tall enough to take a person to another place, but it
           is never a place that is an escape 

           http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/6392803_orig.jpg
           http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/1024617_orig.jpg

30.    the BOUNTY PAYMENT       
           http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/7849760_orig.jpg      
   
           how much? 
           http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/content/CXXI/494/1562.extract  

31.    Auschwitz concentration camp         
          http://www.naziclowns.com/uploads/7/1/5/0/7150883/7913729_orig.jpg                        
          Auschwitz_concentration_camp 

         arbeit macht frei   (Auschwitz sign)
         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeit_macht_frei 
         https://www.google.com/search?  

         Auschwitz photo album        
         exhibitions/album_auschwitz
         



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