Painting explores Anne Frank link to Mandela
MAYOR OF London Sadiq Khan has pledged £300,000 to the AuschwitzBirkenau Foundation “to help ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten”. The announcement came as the Mayor confirmed that he would visit Auschwitz-Birkenau later this month to attend a special service marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp.
The foundation manages the conservation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau site, including the camp infrastructure and personal items of victims. The grant from London will support the preservation of the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria, the conservation of the barracks and preserving collections and exhibits.
The UK provides the most international visitors to the site, with approximately 300,000 people, including schoolchildren, visiting each year.
Mr Khan said: “The Holocaust was one of the darkest times in human history and we must never forget the atrocities committed.
“As the years pass — and as we have fewer survivors to pass on their stories — it is vital that we work even harder to preserve the site and ensure younger generations learn the lessons from history. These lessons are all the more significant as we see antisemitism and hate crime on the rise.”
The Mayor added: “I am deeply honoured to have been invited to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau,
where, on behalf of London, I will stand with survivors and cities and countries from around the world to remember all those who were killed in, and suffered the horrors of, the Holocaust.”
Foundation president Piotr Cywinski welcomed “the decision of London to join the international coalition of donors. With increasing numbers of visitors at the Auschwitz memorial each year, our responsibility to save its authenticity is a growing necessity. That is why I am deeply grateful to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the city’s residents for their historical commitment. We are doing this for our common future.”
Mr Khan’s pledge was also applauded by survivor Lily Ebert, who was 14 when deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, “having travelled in a cattle truck for many days with no food and barely any water. People died during that horrific journey. When the cattle trucks finally stopped, we arrived at Auschwitz and it was here that I was separated from my family, never to see them again.
“When young people visit Auschwitz, when they see the barracks that I lived in and the gas chamber where a million people were murdered, my family among them, they start to understand. It has to be preserved so the world will remember.”
Michael Italiaander working on the painting — and the finished piece
It is vital that we work even harder to preserve the site’
A PAINTING of Nelson Mandela and Anne Frank by a 97-year-old North Londoner will be part of the Anne Frank Trust UK’s travelling exhibition.
Michael Italiaander’s commission reflects the fact that during Mandela’s incarceration on Robben Island, he read and was inspired by Anne Frank’s diary. There was also the resonance that the artist’s parents were from Amsterdam, although they met in London.
Mr Italiaander told the JC that the painting was based on the impact “Anne’s words have on Mandela. He reads her diary and sees how the tragedy that was hers was also his — racism.
“Hatred of the way that God made us is totally wicked. Being decent to one another is not difficult. In fact, there is nothing like it to make us feel good.”
The artwork shows Anne writing about her experiences in the Amsterdam attic with Shoah victims depicted being marched to their deaths in the background. In the foreground, Mandela clutches the diary to his chest.
For the Anne Frank Trust, the painting will be a springboard to discussion about how hatred in different forms continued after the Holocaust.
Mr Italiaander, who lives in Stanmore and is a Belmont Synagogue member, recently celebrated his 73rd wedding anniversary.