Milan, new mural on wall defaced by anti-Semitic actions: depicts Primo Levi and Anne Frank

On Remembrance Day, AleXsandro Palombo has created a new mural, Memory Is No Longer Enough, depicting Primo Levi and Anna Frank, on the wall of the Montello Barracks in Milan. The new mural appeared on what remains of the works dedicated to Holocaust survivors Liliana Segre, Edith Bruck and Sami Modiano, which had been defaced by anti-Semitic actions and writing.

With Memory Is No Longer Enough, Palombo thus intends to transform those walls wounded by anti-Jewish hatred into a gesture of denunciation and reflection on the meaning of Memory in the present. The work depicts Primo Levi and Anna Frank sitting on the ground, both wearing the uniform of Auschwitz deportees and the yellow star sewn on their chests. Their gazes are turned upward, where a kind of symbolic vault composed of dozens of yellow stars with the inscription “Jude” opens. In the center, on the white background, the phrase Memory Is No Longer Enough emerges. The dripping white paint, deliberately left visible, becomes part of the work, and the erasure of the slash is transformed into a symbolic gesture that reverses an act of hatred into a call for responsibility.

The title of the work alludes to ahistorical urgency that can no longer be procrastinated. As direct witnesses of the Shoah fade away, Memory becomes more fragile. The mural fits ideally into the groove of Primo Levi’s words, “It happened, so it can happen again,” and Anne Frank’s, “What happened cannot be erased, but it can be prevented from happening again.” Palombo takes these warnings and translates them into a contemporary message.

The artist chooses public art as a tool for collective consciousness, transforming urban space into a place of active and shared memory. The intervention calls for individual and collective responsibility, inviting us not to remain indifferent and reminding us that the fight against anti-Semitism concerns the whole of society.

In 2025, the Museum of the Shoah in Rome acquired Palombo’s Anti-Semitism, History Repeating and The Star of David, now on display in front of the Portico d’Ottavia, into its collection. The works, dedicated to Liliana Segre, Sami Modiano and Edith Bruck, represent one of the most significant and recognized nuclei of the artist’s commitment to the fight against anti-Semitism.

Milan, new mural on wall defaced by anti-Semitic actions: depicts Primo Levi and Anne Frank

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