In the wake of the 9-11 catastrophe, I designed a small commemorative poster entitled, Never Again featuring the NYPD firemen raising the American flag at ground zero. The Never Again title was a recurrent theme on posters in Poland after World War II.
Two years later, I became involved with the National Katyn Memorial committee in Baltimore, Maryland, creating drawings of their monument for additional interpretive plaques to be installed at its base. In the process, I saw the parallel between the 9-11 tragedy and the Katyn Massacre of Polish military officers in World War II, and so I created a companion Never Again poster, this time subtitling the words in Polish - 'Nigdy Wiecej" and showing the Katyn Memorial and its history.
It was only when I read the incredible poem, Hatred (Baranczak/Cavanaugh translation), by Wislawa Szymborska, the winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for literature, that I could see these two horrific events become unified through time. Read in light of the events of 9-11, line by line Ms. Szymborska's poem, written in 1993, presaged 9-11 in so many aspects. She wrote it from her personal experience of having survived the horrors of World War II Poland. It is a portrayal of hatred as some kind of demonic animal -
How rapidly it pounces, tracks us down.Szymborska's prophetic vision from a uniquely Polish perspective shows us that as long as Hatred lives, "Never Again" will unfortunately be repeated through the ages.
--Carla Hazard Tomaszewski
January, 2005Each poster is in full color, 11"x17".
Portfolio is black, extra heavy cover
stock. Informational sheet included.
$20.00 full portfolio
