The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) community, Dorothy and Henry Rosenberg Jr., and Patricia and Mike Batza, present the exhibition, Horrors of War, by renowned Baltimore artist Joseph Sheppard, Oct. 30, 2016–Oct. 29, 2017.

The exhibit, a series of paintings that depict WW II massacres, chronicles the annihilation, the ruthlessness and cruelty that human beings have inflicted on one another in the name of war. The images are both sickening and terrifying, and that is precisely why the artist believes they must be portrayed and exhibited.

Horrors of War premiered in August 2014 at Pietrasanta, Italy, to a crowd who understood all too well war’s gross inhumanities. The occasion was the 70th anniversary of the massacre at Sant'Anna di Stazzema, which signaled the beginning of the Nazi scorched-earth policy―a strategy designed to defeat the Italian resistance movement by depriving the Partisans of friendly communities where they could blend in, find sanctuary, and from which they could launch surprise attacks.

In the three hours between 7 and 10 a.m. on Aug. 12, 1944, German occupation forces of the Waffen-SS rounded up and systematically executed 560 Sant'Anna villagers and refugees, including more than 107 children, destroyed all village livestock, set the town ablaze and, according to reports, with the burning village as a backdrop, sat down and ate lunch.

The exhibition includes a documentary video on the Buffalo Soldiers’ involvement in the Allied Italian Campaign. Of the 909,000 African Americans selected for duty in the Army during World War II, only one black division saw infantry combat in Europe―the Buffalo Soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division. The majority of African Americans in uniform were assigned to a segregated construction or supply unit or placed in a unit that performed unpleasant duties such as graves registration.

Exhibition Dates Oct. 30, 2016–Oct. 29, 2017

Exhibition Hours 9 a.m.–9 p.m. daily

Location Dorothy L. and Henry A. Rosenberg Jr. Painting Gallery The Leroy Merritt Center for the Art of Joseph Sheppard University of Maryland University College College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center 3501 University Boulevard East