On Yom HaShoah, the day of remembrance of the Jews who were killed during the Holocaust, one of the two murals of the series “Track 21, The Simpsons deported to Auschwitz” by the artist aleXsandro Palombo, which appeared on the walls of the Memorial of the Shoah in Milan on January 27th on the day of remembrance, has been vandalized.

Newsweek wrote the museum is working with authorities in its investigations to identify the vandals, using CCTV footage from cameras based above the mural.

Speaking with Newsweek, the artist said “They failed. This strong anti-Semitic act highlights the danger of indifference, of oblivion and forces us to a visual stumble that reveals reality, hatred, racism, cruelty and prejudice towards Jews”.

More info: Instagram

“Track 21, The Simpsons deported to Auschwitz” by the artist aleXsandro Palombo

From “Track 21” of Milan’s central station, hundreds of Jews were loaded onto livestock wagons headed for the concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Mauthausen, Bergen-Belsen, Flossenbürg, Ravensbrück, Fossoli and Bolzano. Milan Track 21 is the hidden gateway to hell for Jews in the days of World War II. Today, it is converted into a memorial for the world to know.

The artist aleXsandro Palombo portrayed the Simpson family deported to Nazi concentration camps and creates two symbolic murals which tell the story before and after the deportation. A reflection on the absolute evil that was Nazism and a warning to cherish the Memory.

“Track 21, The Simpsons deported to Auschwitz” by the artist aleXsandro Palombo

“Track 21, The Simpsons deported to Auschwitz” by the artist aleXsandro Palombo

The work is meant to be a re-elaboration of the theme of Memory, using a universal language known to most. The black marks covering the yellow stars sadly recall attempts to censor and distort the history of the Holocaust.

“We will proceed in the next few days to check the footage from the cameras trying to identify the person responsible. What worries us is to perceive a possible revisionist and anti-Semitic trend in this act. What we hope is that the rest of the citizenry will respond with its opposite, with solidarity and empathy, demonstrating that the fight against indifference is the key to overcoming racist and anti-democratic tendencies. For our part, this is an incentive to work even more, especially with young people, better, with ever greater creativity. We hope that the artist wants to come back to ‘fix’ the work, or expand it, as a further response” – said Roberto Jarach, President of the Foundation Memorial of the Shoah in Milan.

“Track 21, The Simpsons deported to Auschwitz” by the artist aleXsandro Palombo

“Track 21, The Simpsons deported to Auschwitz” by the artist aleXsandro Palombo

The Shoah Memorial in Milan is a place for meeting and discussion, located in the space where between 1943 and 1945 thousands of Jews and political opponents were deported to the Nazi-fascist concentration and extermination camps. Since the beginning of January 2023, it has been visited by over 90,000 people, including over 42,000 students.

“Track 21, The Simpsons deported to Auschwitz” by the artist aleXsandro Palombo

“Track 21, The Simpsons deported to Auschwitz” by the artist aleXsandro Palombo

“Confronting antisemitism is always disgusting, which is the case here. However, if the racist’s goal was to diminish Holocaust commemoration, I judge that they failed.

Blacking out the Stars of David and identifying Jews as the Nazis’ specific targets only confirms this fact. The vandal’s pen marks unintentionally force onlookers to remember the truth of the missing yellow identity label. Similarly, desecrating the artist’s mural, and public space that welcomes it, only bolsters the memorialization’s importance. Graffiti takes on power by marring important structures and images. Targeting a national Holocaust memorial demonstrates that these criminals nonetheless recognize its enduring significance in western liberal societies” declared Jeffrey Demsky, professor of History and Political Science at San Bernardino Valley College, USA – Author of “Nazi and Holocaust Representations in Anglo-American Popular Culture, 1945–2020: Irreverent Remembrance” (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).

“Track 21, The Simpsons deported to Auschwitz” by the artist aleXsandro Palombo

“Track 21, The Simpsons deported to Auschwitz” by the artist aleXsandro Palombo

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