By: Fern Sidman

In a profoundly disturbing act of hatred, vandals defaced a series of posters featuring Holocaust survivors along West 57th Street in Manhattan on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, just as solemn commemorations were set to mark 80 years since liberation, according to an exclusive report that appeared on Saturday in The New York Post.

The targeted attack—occurring just before one of the most sacred days in Jewish memory—left survivors and community members both heartbroken and alarmed, as concerns mount over the rising tide of antisemitism in New York City and beyond.

The vandals specifically targeted posters promoting “Borrowed Spotlight,” a powerful Chelsea gallery exhibition that pairs photographs of Holocaust survivors with celebrities such as Chelsea Handler, Jennifer Garner, and Billy Porter to raise awareness about the enduring threat of antisemitism.

As reported by The New York Post, the perpetrators scratched off the faces of the survivors—some now in their 80s and 90s—while leaving adjacent, unrelated posters untouched. This calculated desecration sent a chilling message and deeply wounded those whose lives had already been marked by unimaginable suffering.

“I was shocked,” said Eva Nathanson, an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor from Hungary featured in the exhibit, as she spoke with The New York Post. “It would hurt any day — but especially on Holocaust Remembrance Day.”

Nathanson, who survived by hiding for two years and narrowly escaped execution at the Danube River alongside her mother during World War II, expressed a growing fear that the antisemitic horrors of her youth could be resurfacing in America.

“I’ve never been afraid in the US, and right now I am worried,” she confided to The New York Post.

The incident unfolds against a grim backdrop. As The New York Post report noted, New York State led the nation last year with 1,437 antisemitic incidents. For survivors like Nathanson, the parallels to the pre-Holocaust era in Europe are deeply unsettling.

“It reminds me of when I was growing up,” Nathanson said, highlighting the emotional trauma of witnessing such overt hatred once again in her lifetime.

The “Borrowed Spotlight” exhibit was designed not only to commemorate the past but to educate new generations through the power of storytelling and celebrity influence. Among those honored in the posters was Ella Mandel, a 98-year-old Auschwitz survivor, who was only 13 years old when Nazi Germany invaded her native Poland.

A vandalized poster featuring supermodel Cindy Crawford alongside Mandel now stands as a somber testament to both survival and ongoing intolerance.

“I was the only survivor,” Mandel told The New York Post, reflecting on the deep existential questions that linger in the aftermath of genocide. “And then you can’t help thinking and asking why?”

As the report in The New York Post pointed out, this latest wave of vandalism mirrors a broader pattern seen over the past 18 months, in which posters highlighting Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas have been ripped down, defaced, or destroyed across major cities worldwide.

These acts, often justified under the guise of political protests against Israel, have increasingly been exposed as thinly veiled antisemitism, especially when the targets are elderly civilians, women, and children.

Jewish actor and advocate Jonah Platt, son of famed producer Marc Platt, voiced the frustration shared by many, writing on X (formerly Twitter): “How long is everyone going to keep pretending it’s about Israel?”

The New York Post reported that Platt, along with many others, sees these acts for what they truly are: a resurgence of old-fashioned antisemitic hatred, now cloaked in the language of modern political activism.

Despite the hurt and fear caused by the vandalism, survivors and their allies are determined not to be silenced. Bryce Thompson, the photographer behind the Borrowed Spotlight project, told The New York Post that if anything, the hateful act has “motivated” the survivors even more.

“It channels their determination to use their voice more now,” Thompson said.

Nathanson, too, remains steadfast: “This won’t stop me from telling my story,” she declared to The New York Post, embodying the resilience that has defined survivors for decades.

As reported by The New York Post, the attack on Holocaust survivor posters in Manhattan is a stark reminder that the fight against antisemitism is far from over. In targeting the faces of survivors—those who lived through humanity’s darkest hours—the vandals attempted not just to erase images, but to undermine the very memory of resistance and survival.

Yet the strength and dignity of survivors such as Eva Nathanson and Ella Mandel, and the unwavering commitment of initiatives such as Borrowed Spotlight, ensure that their stories will continue to be told—louder and clearer than ever before.

As hatred rears its head once again, the words of the survivors resonate ever more powerfully: We will remember. We will speak. And we will not be silenced.