This model of Auschwitz, the infamous death camp in which more than 1 million people were murdered by the Nazis, was recently displayed in Copenhagen where it was shown to coincide with International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The work of Marco Evaristti, the model which is called Rolexgate, is made primarily out of gold teeth taken from inmates – 2.3 kilos, about 5 pounds, to be exact.

Evaristti got the gold fillings from a “private collector” who kept this macabre collection in a glass jar. The model even includes a Rolex watch in place of the clock which sits in the iconic tower at the camp entrance. The artist explains that he wanted to challenge claims of Swiss neutrality during the war.
So what do you think? Is this a brilliant repurposing of the gold, turning remains into a memorial which even challenges those most proud of their neutrality? Is it a perverse use of sacred body parts which ought to be buried? Is it something altogether different from either of those? What do you think?