Memory of the Holocaust: Toscano honors survivors with impressive portraits

Memory of the Holocaust: Toscano honors survivors with impressive portraits

on January 26, 2025, on the eve of the official Holocaust Memorial Day, a haunting commemoration of the victims of National Socialism can be observed in Leverkusen and other cities in Germany. The photo exhibition of Luigi Toscano Toscano, in 2014 with the "Artist for Peace" award from UNESCO, has set itself the task of portraying survivors of National Socialist persecution. With over 500 encounters in countries such as Germany, USA, Austria and Ukraine, he has created an impressive collection of survival portraits that are exhibited in public spaces.

The upcoming events are particularly important, since 2025 not only marked the Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, but also other important memorial days, such as the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War on May 8. On January 26, the preview exhibition of Tiscos works will be opened in the Volkshochschule Leverkusen from 6 p.m.

memorial events in Dresden and Leipzig

In Dresden and Leipzig, the memory of the victims of the Holocaust is celebrated with the photo exhibition "Against the Forgetting". This hiking exhibition with 80 large-format portraits of Shoah survivors opens on January 27th at 4 p.m. in the Frauenkirche and can be seen until February 25th. There, too, the works of Toscano can be experienced, who documented more than 2000 victims in Dresden, including Jews, Sinti, Roma and children of forced laborers. On the occasion of the Holocaust Memorial Day, a memorial concert under the title "Bringing Music Home" is organized at 5 p.m. on the occasion of the Holocaust Memorial Day.

The memorial event at the Kreuzkirche in Dresden is accompanied by the name reading of the victims from 12 noon to 3:30 p.m. In the city, people also remember the deportations that have affected all the remaining Jews in Leipzig since 1942 and whose survivors often died in extermination camps. These sad memories form a weighty part of the reporting on the Holocaust.

cultural relevance and a look into the future

Art and culture play an important role in memory of the Holocaust. Toscano’s portraits are designed in such a way that they reach a wide audience, regardless of age or educational background. Sie accumulating an urgent message about the resilience of people who have survived terrible experiences. This exhibition is presented not only in Leverkusen, but also in other cities such as Dresden and Leipzig, where the photographs are in a larger cultural context.

It is also important that the municipal cinema in Leverkusen shows special films, including "The Zone of Interest", "Treasure - Family is a foreign country" and "One Life", which further deepen and reflect on the topic of the Holocaust. The exact times and details can be found on the website of the cinema, which invites you to further deal with the topic.

The year 2025 is therefore all about the memory, with numerous events that are reminiscent of the inhumanities of the Holocaust and commemorate the victims. The exhibitions and concerts offer space for grief and hope for a better future.