Actions in WW2 unknowingly preserve future of Russian artist’s works.
HALEYVILLE - The leadership efforts of one Haleyville man to liberate a German concentration camp during World War II helped to free a group of men, one being a Russian artist, whose works may never have been discovered if it wasn’t for these efforts.
The leader in charge of a group to liberate the Maulthaussen camp was John Slatton. He recently received a visitor into his home from Ireland, native Martin McDermott, an art buff who has collected many of the paintings of Ivan Garikow. McDermott brought one of Garikow’s paintings--blending majestic imagery with history and often personal encounters--and showed it to Slatton. The painting was a self portrait of Garikow himself.
McDermott also visited to tell Slatton that one of Garikow’s paintings was auctioned off in Slatton’s honor during a county arts festival held at Lakeshore and purchased by an anonymous buyer for $10,000. The money was donated to fund a new arts curriculum for Winston County schools. The Eurisko Arts Foundation donated the original Garikow painting, titled Windswept Nude that was auctioned off with the proceeds given to the Winston County schools for Art’s sake.
Thanks to the efforts of John Slatton and 22 other men in his unit, the life of Ivan Garikow was saved - along with the future of his beautiful paintings.
Shown below holding a self-portrait by Garikow is Ireland native art collector Martin McDermott, and at the right is John Slatton. Thanks to the efforts of John Slatton and 22 other men in his unit, the life of Ivan Garikow was saved, along with the future of his beautiful paintings. Shown at the left holding a self-portrait by Garikow is Ireland native art collector Martin McDermott, and at the right is John Slatton.
As McDermott told Slatton these things, Slatton responded, “That is wonderful.”
“Leading the charge of liberating the Maulthaussen camp in WWII, you did many years ago; you probably didn’t think a lot about it, but because of that day, the students and children of Winston County will benefit for many years and generations that will live past you and me,” McDermott told Slatton.
Slatton, however, did not take all of the credit for liberating the concentration camp and freeing the individuals held prisoner during the war. “Lots of people had a hand in it,” he said. “There were 23 of us on the fifth day of May, 1945. We were on a mission. We were a cavalry reconnaissance unit on a mission to find a route over bridges that would sustain or support the weight of our tanks. Our tanks (weighed) 60 tons each. You had to have strong bridges.”
The unit was scouting for strong roads and bridges in the 11th Armored Division when they ran across a road block of trees lying across the road and feared enemy cross fire. “But there was no one there,” Slatton recalled.
“We got out and cleared the road block and about the time we started to leave, there comes a vehicle over the hill.” Slatton said the vehicle bore the emblem of the Swiss Red Cross. The man in that vehicle wanted to surrender the concentration camp to General Patton.
A man in Slatton’s group said he would take the camp. “They told him, ‘You don’t have enough men.’ And he said, ‘Well, you don’t know my men,’” Slatton remembered with a smile.
Slatton then led the group into action. “We took about 3,000 German prisoners and there were only 23 of us, and there were like 30,000 inmates in the concentration camp,” he said.
McDermott then told Slatton the Nazis had started to execute as many prisoners as they could to destroy evidence at the concentration camp. “Had you not arrived on that day in May, a lot more of them would have been killed,” he told Slatton. The methods of execution included shooting and the gas chamber, Slatton remembered.
Garikow, according to information passed through history, was scheduled to have been executed 24 hours after Slatton and his men arrived to liberate the camp. Although Slatton never remembered Garikow in the camp, he did recall a Lieutenant Taylor from the United States Navy that was a prisoner there.
When told about his efforts in freeing a man who went on to become a famous painter, Slatton responded, “It makes me feel grateful and kind of small. He went on and accomplished a lot of things under more adversity than I did.”
Slatton said through the years he has met several men who were liberated thanks to the efforts of himself and the 22 others in his group in 1945.
Garikow was believed to have painted over 200 works—presumably, some at the concentration camp, others after he was liberated. McDermott, who has been on a mission to find the missing art work, has purchased about 95 percent of Garikow’s life work, which after a diligent search were found locked in a public storage facility near Orlando, Fla., by Garikow’s son.
The 200 paintings that had been salvaged were found along with two boxes--one containing labels and other materials from the time Garikow was a refugee; the second box contained ashes of the cremated painter himself. It was noted that Garikow’s son wanted his father surrounded by his works after his death much as during his life.
Although McDermott is seeking the lost pieces of Garikow’s art, he is also seeking a home for the 200 pieces salvaged from the public storage building in Florida. He hopes that home can be located in Winston County, due to the efforts of Slatton in liberating the camp and setting free a man who went on to paint his life’s works. This home or museum for the art would be named in honor of Slatton, noted McDermott.
“John Slatton has become as much a part of history as General Patton or anyone else,” McDermott proudly stated, “and his contribution has resulted in the opportunity of having Garikow’s works exhibited throughout the world. If it wasn’t for John Slatton and his other colleagues that liberated at Maulthaussen, none of this would have been possible.”
The $10,000 donated to Winston County Schools from the Garikow painting will start the schools in the right direction on a needed art program, discussed county superintendent Sue Reed.
“It’s been needed for a long time,” Reed said. “We have a lot of artistic students... Our children may be neglected in that area a little bit because the state does not fund an art (program). Even though the state doesn’t fund it, it doesn’t mean we don’t have those types of students in our school.” The funds, Reed noted, would be used in hiring an arts teacher to get the program started.
Superintendent Reed said arts programs would rotate among the county schools with a teacher on one side of the county teaching music while another teaches art, then the teachers would switch to different schools. “We can serve more students by doing it this way,” said Reed. “We want to do what is best for the whole county.”