Envisioning the evil of the Holocaust at the Minneapolis Institute of Art

How do you confront an atrocity as vast and brutal as the Holocaust? How can you even begin to approach the horror and disgust that well up inside you as a human being? Mauricio Lasansky started by putting pencil to paper.

Lasansky, the son of Eastern European Jews, was one of the most celebrated printmakers of the 20th century. In 1961, as the world was gripped by the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, Lasansky was moved to produce a series of massive, visceral drawings grappling with the Holocaust.

Those drawings are now back on display in a bracing exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art called “Envisioning Evil: ‘The Nazi Drawings’ by Mauricio Lasansky.”

Rachel McGarry is the curator who organized the show, and Rabbi Barry Cytron co-authored the catalog. They told host Cathy Wurzer about the show’s power and relevance.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

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