Poland probes artist's claim he used Holocaust ash

The Associated Press, Tuesday, January 8, 2013, 6:06am (PST)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish prosecutors have opened an investigation into a Swedish artist's claim that he used the ashes of Holocaust victims to make a painting.

The artist, Carl Michael Hausswolf, wrote on the website of a gallery in Lund, Sweden, last year that he made a painting using ashes that he took from crematorium furnaces in Majdanek, a former Nazi German death camp located in eastern Poland, on a visit there in 1989.

Spokeswoman Beata Syk-Jankowska said Tuesday that local prosecutors have opened an investigation to check whether there is truth to his claim. She said there is no evidence and prosecutors are acting on media reports. Swedish investigators will be asked for assistance.

If found true, he could be charged in Poland with desecrating human ash or a resting place.