The Holocaust's ramifications bear on various dimensions of our existence, and in many respects shape society's ever-evolving remembrance of the Shoah. This reality forms the background and origin of the annual "Shaping Memory" competition. Now in its thirteenth year, this competition invites a new generation of Israeli artists to express their sense of the Holocaust’s complex and diverse layers of significance – through a visual prism.
As in the past, dozens of artists and designers participated in this year’s competition to design the official poster marking Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, which this year focused on the theme for 2023, "Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust: Marking 80 Years since the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising".
Chosen by a panel of judges comprising Israel’s finest graphic design teachers, the winning poster was designed by 25-year-old Mai Nizan from Ramat Hasharon, a UI designer at Aman Digital and a fourth-year visual communication design student at the Holon Institute of Technology. It was only in her adulthood that Mai discovered the life story of her grandfather Emanuel (Farhi) Nizan, z"l. Born in Rossa, Bulgaria, Emanuel survived the Holocaust, and immigrated to Israel alone at the age of 16. He did not speak about his wartime experiences, and Mai's work expresses her desire to tell his story – so that it will not be forgotten. According to Mai, "The black in the center of the poster reflects the stain left by the war on humanity and the decline of moral values; on the other hand, the sun orb symbolizes the regenerating power of nature, growth and hope in the shadow of hardship."
"The poster depicts the contours of the Warsaw ghetto during one period of its existence, in the form of a black stain on map-like paper," wrote the judges. "However, in the poster, the coordinates have lost their topographical realism, and have metamorphosed into an abstract, a simile, within which are concealed evolving images such as a skull, weapons and more.
"Even as it transpired, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising already became a symbol of Jewish resistance and heroism in the Holocaust. As the desperate fighting continued, word of the uprising spread throughout Poland, Nazi-occupied territory and the free world. The very fact of the uprising was a testament to the courage of the human spirit in the face of the persecution and extermination of the Jewish people by the Germans and their collaborators. As Antek Zukerman, one of the fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, said: 'This isn’t a subject for study in a military school. Neither the weapons, nor the operations, nor the tactics. If there were a school for the study of the human spirit, that is where the uprising should be a major subject.'
"The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was one of many instances of Jewish resistance and heroism during the Holocaust: Jews in the Holocaust resisted in many ways. The poster's sketch of the Warsaw ghetto, encompassing all of its inhabitants, broadens the topic of resistance to include its numerous and varied expressions. The placement of the abstract map of the ghetto on paper, its proximity to the Y axis and the viewer's realization that part of the map is in the process of sinking, all symbolize the erosion of basic values and morality during that period, as well as the breakdown of fundamental human ethics, primarily the imperative 'Thou Shalt Not Murder.'
"The bright yellow sun in the sky completes the image of erosion. The sun corresponds with the Yellow Star that Jews were forced to wear as a badge of shame to separate them from their social surroundings. At the same time, it evokes Haim Bialik's timeless poem 'In the City of Slaughter,' containing the verse: 'The sun shone, the acacia blossomed, and the slaughterer slaughtered.'"
The winning poster was distributed to schools, youth movements and IDF bases across Israel, accompanied by a lesson plan written by the International School for Holocaust Studies, as well as to Israeli missions abroad and public and private organizations.
