Keeping the flame alive for Shoah anniversary
THE HOLOCAUST Memorial Day Trust is inviting entries to a national competition to design one of 75 “memorial flames” to mark next year’s 75th anniversary of the liberation of AuschwitzBirkenau.
“This opportunity is open to all and there is no upper or lower age limit,” the trust said. “You can apply as a community group, a school or college, a gallery or museum, a library, hospital or prison.”
The first flame has been designed by Holocaust survivor and sculptor Maurice Blik, whose sculpture, The Human Flame, represents the indomitable human spirit.
He said he had never previously tried to make his work “about the past or the Holocaust. I suppose the reason is that it is too painful for me.”
Born in Amsterdam in
1939, he was four when deported to BergenBelsen.
Many of his family were murdered during the Holocaust — his father in Auschwitz, his sister and grandmother in Bergen-Belsen and two uncles, an aunt and cousin in Sobibor.
“I remember a lot from that time but nothing about it is fond memories.” He was liberated with his mother and sister in 1945 aboard one of the last trains bound for a death camp.
His sculpture focused “on what it is like to be alive. I like the idea of an everlasting flame, which is why it looks a bit like a human rising up from the flame.”
To help inspire contributors, the trust can supply links to a selection of historical information, life stories and poems. “It is up to the individual how they interpret the idea. What is important is that we never forget the Holocaust. The anniversary is there to say ‘look out’.”
For more information, go to hmd.org. uk