Wiktor Tołkin (February 21, 1922 in

Tołkacze Tołkacze is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Szudziałowo, within Sokółka County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, close to the border with Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byel ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

– May 7, 2013) was a Polish sculptor and architect. A member of the

Armia Krajowa The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...

resistance during World War II; he was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

, and incarcerated at

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

from November 17, 1942 to February 1944. During this period Tołkin survived a

death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convent ...

to Stalag at

Sandbostel Sandbostel is a municipality in Lower Saxony (''Niedersachsen'') in northwestern Germany, 43 km north-east of Bremen, 60 km west of Hamburg. It is part of the Samtgemeinde Selsingen. In 2013, it had 830 inhabitants. History Sandboste ...

Work

Tołkin graduated from two universities, the Gdańsk Polytechnic, and the

Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk The Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk (''Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Gdańsku'') was founded in 1945 in Sopot, Poland as the State Institute of Fine Arts, later renamed the State College of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. In 1954, the headquarters were moved f ...

, to become one of the more influential Polish artists of the 1960s. He is best known for his monumental sculptures built in memory of the victims of the German

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

s in

Stutthof Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig ( Gdańsk) in the territory of the Germ ...

and

Majdanek Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had seven gas chambers, two wooden gallows, a ...

. His most recognized works are abstract forms of colored concrete with expressive form, incorporating architectural design and elements.

Leading works

* Monument ''The Marrying of Poland with the Sea'' in Kolobrzeg, built November 30, 1963. * Monument ''Fight and Martyrdom'' in the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

concentration camp in Stutthof, built May 12, 1968. * Monument ''Fight and Martyrdom'' and the mausoleum-pantheon in the Nazi concentration camp in Majdanek, built in 1969. * ''Fight and Martyrdom'' in Pawiak,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. * Monument to the Battle of in Plock, (1978) File:Sztutowo pomnik 056.jpg, "''Fight and Martyrdom''", Sztutowo (Poland) File:German Concentration Camp Majdanek (2).jpg, "''Fight and Martyrdom''", Majdanek (Poland) File:German Concentration Camp Majdanek (3).jpg, Backsight of the "''Fight and Martyrdom''" monument in Majdanek File:German Concentration Camp Majdanek (12).jpg, Mausoleum at Majdanek, inscription: "Let our fate be a warning to you" File:Kolobrzeg-monument-poland-wedding-to-the-sea.jpg, ''Monument to the Polish wedding at sea'', Kołobrzeg

References

Bibliography

Pomnik Ofiar Majdanka
* ''Kto jest kim w Polsce'', edycja IV (zespół redakcyjny Beata Cynkier i inni), Warszawa 2001, s. 970–971 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tolkin, Wiktor 1922 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Polish architects Polish sculptors Polish male sculptors 20th-century Polish male artists Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk alumni