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Recreating a Mistake at a Berlin Memorial

What is it with fashion people and the Holocaust?

by
Jillian Scheinfeld
January 30, 2013
easyJet Traveller photoshoot.(Guardian)
easyJet Traveller photoshoot.(Guardian)

Three years ago, easyJet apologized for printing an eight page fashion editorial in its in-flight magazine, easyJet Traveller, which featured a distasteful layout of models posing alongside Berlin’s Jewish Museum and Holocaust Memorial.

According to The Cut, the lanky models posed alongside text reading: “Berlin may not be a picture-perfect jewel … but it’s a treasure trove for the culture vulture … no visit would be complete without exploring the testaments to the city’s turbulent past, such as … the Jewish Museum and the Holocaust memorial.”

As we reported then, easyJet ultimately removed all 300,000 copies of the magazine from airplanes after passengers found the pictures to be disturbing and inappropriate.

This incident was of no concern to Pelayo Diaz who recently recreated the controversial photo shoot complete with a Davidelfin biker coat, American Apparel Hoodie, Celine bag and Balenciaga shoes. Pelayo’s ignorance of the memorial’s significance was obvious:

“I can’t really describe how it feels to walk between concrete blocks trying to reach the sky but the good thing is that it doesn’t make you think about the past, only the future.”

Well, for many of us, the Holocaust Memorial–emphasis on that second word–does make us think of the past. As it should.

Jillian Scheinfeld is a journalist living in New York City.