![]() ![]() "I remember that they asked me, 'Do you have nothing better to do than describe the Holocaust and to take pictures?'" Toscano said. While the portraits have brought people together, revisiting these memories can be painful for survivors. Horst and Walter reunited after 80 years. "Two days later, Walter calls me from Sweden and asked me, 'Luigi, Luigi, what have you done? This is Horst, This is Horst! My old school friend.'" When he displayed his work in Berlin, Toscano hung portraits of a survivor named Walter, who lives in Stockholm, next to a survivor named Horst, who lives in Germany. Toscano's determination has led him from Russia to Israel to Kansas City taking these portraits, some of which have even reconnected long-separated friends. Don't give up.' You know, that motivated me so much." ![]() "The federal president came and said, 'Hey, Luigi, don't give up.' Survivors of my project called me from around the world and say 'Don't give up. And they say, 'We would like to protect this art and we will stay here for 24 hours every day,'" Toscano said. "After 20 minutes, I think there was hundreds of young people at the exhibition. But the community reminded him why these stories need to be shared. Toscano began to doubt this path after swastikas were painted on his portraits during an exhibition in Vienna. Sonia Warshawski and Luigi Toscano stand beside her portrait at the opening of 'Lest We Forget' in Kansas City Then you will see the doors are open for you." "She tells me, please share this with other people. I remember that she tells me in the beginning of our conversation, 'Luigi, if we forget the past, we are doomed to repeat it,'" Toscano said. "I remember there was a woman, a survivor - Susan. Over the last four years, he visited Ukraine, Belarus, Germany and other locations, placing his exhibit in areas open to the public. Toscano has lived in Germany his whole life, so when he felt anti-Semitism bubbling again in Europe he jumped into the project, collecting photographs and stories about the Holocaust. "It's so necessary that we defend our democracy, that we stand up and that we do something," he said. "I remember one of the survivors tells me, 'Luigi, this is the best form we have,'" Toscano said of the medium of photography.įor Toscano, the project was intended to help ensure nothing like the Holocaust happens again. That simplicity forces a more intimate look into the eyes and emotions of the survivor. The images are simple in concept, just a black background with the subject's face staring back into the camera. Toscano is the creator of " Lest We Forget," which in its entirety consists of 400 portraits. ![]()
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