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Innovative and Poignant Poster Marks Holocaust

April 18, 2012

In honor of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day, the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem has produced an innovatinve and poignant poster.

Dorielle Rimmer Halperin, the Bezalel graduate who created the poster, said the poster was dedicated to her grandparents – David and Esther Rimmer – who survived the Holocaust, as well as their family members who did not.

“This was an exciting challenge for me,” said Rimmer, who graduated from Bezalel in 2003. “It’s a real honor for me to be able to pass the message on to every home in Israel. I believe that the message of this poster is very clear and it will touch the heart and provoke thought.

“My design shows that the shadow of the family lying on the road is the shadow of the family who perished and will always be there with the survivors. But this is also the shadow of their new family of survivors, which is there to remember, to preserve them and their heroism,” she said.

“We are often ‘asked’ to remember the Holocaust through famous photographs, movies and the ‘usual’ characters. I tried to remove the memory from what we are so accustomed to seeing, removing a little of the ‘national’ collective memory and making it more personal by showing how it comes into the homes of every one of us and casts a shadow over our daily lives.

“When I look at my grandparents, both Holocaust survivors, in their shadow I see my shadow as well. The lack of light in their lives is always there and will always be a part of me and my family, something we will pass onto future generations,” Rimmer said.

“But around the great shadow of the Holocaust is also light; plenty of light. Holocaust Memorial Day is also about heroism – and not only that of the survivors.”

Yom HaShoah ceremonies will begin with the sounding of a siren on Wednesday night and continue into Thursday evening.

Israel will come to a standstill for two minutes at 10:00 o’clock Thursday morning as air raid sirens blast again in remembrance of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust.

Cars will stop and people will rise and stand in place, many with heads bowed, in memory of the victims. Many restaurants, bars and places of entertainment will close during the day today in honor of the day’s solemnity.

Across Israel, somber ceremonies will be held to mark Yom HaShoah in the halls of power, at national institutions, on military bases, and in private venues.