Just before International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, Milan’s Holocaust memorial debuted an eye-grabbing new addition on some of its exterior walls: murals of characters from “The Simpsons” dressed as Jews under Nazi German rule.
The Shoah Memorial Foundation reported that the well-known Italian pop artist who painted the murals did not reach out before creating the series of images, some of which show the popular TV cartoon characters Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa Simpson in concentration-camp garb.
“We were not involved in the decision[-making] process and found the painting [on the] morning of [Jan. 26], along with everybody else,” stated a spokesperson on Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
In the end, the foundation said it didn’t mind the gesture.
“We appreciate the intention behind it and don’t find it particularly harmful,” said its president, Roberto Jarach.
The memorial is found at Platform 21 inside the Milano Centrale, the city’s main train station. About 1,200 Jews were deported to Nazi camps from the platform in 1943. AleXsandro [sic] Palombo, whose style usually involves using figures from popular culture to tackle dark issues, made the murals on the outside of the station.
“These works are a visual stumble that allows us to see what we no longer see. The most terrible things can become reality, and art has the duty to remember them because it is a powerful antidote against oblivion. The horror of the Jewish genocide must be transmitted without filters to the new generations to protect humanity from other horrors such as the Shoah,” Palombo wrote in a statement.
Last March, Palombo painted a mural of Anne Frank on a street in Milan, showing the famous young diarist burning a piece of paper with the letter “Z” on it. The letter has been associated with the Russian military in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
— David I. Klein/JTA
