FASHION PHOTO OF MASS GRAVE SHOCKS HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

Fashion photo with 'mass grave' shocks Holocaust survivors (Haaretz)
A photograph of a model standing by what appeared to be an open mass grave raised a public outcry Thursday after a Channel 10 report on it. The photograph of Slovak model Zuzana Gregorova was taken by the creative team preparing Dan Cassidi's summer collection campaign.

The publicist who initiated the photograph, Meir Kadosh, said he wanted to warn of the next holocaust, which could occur if Iran drops a nuclear bomb on Israel, and to protest Holocaust denial. At the same time, he denied using Holocaust motifs and said the huge hole in the ground stood for what could be the mass grave of Tel Aviv's complacent residents.

Kadosh said he got the idea for the story while filming Dan Cassidi's summer fashion campaign, when the 17-year-old model told him she had never heard of the Holocaust.

He said he decided to prepare an article for a local Tel Aviv magazine. The Dan Cassidi chain agreed as long as the company's name appeared in the story, but Kadosh said there was no intention to use the photographs in the advertising campaign.

Holocaust survivors' organizations called on Dan Cassidi and the advertising company Thursday to cancel what they called the "disgraceful advertisement."

"We're shocked by a campaign that uses Holocaust motifs for sales promotion," said Noah Flug, chairman of the Center of Survivor Organizations.

THIS TASTELESS "ART" SEEMS TO BE THE LATEST CRAZE. TAKE A LOOK AT THIS 2/19/07 POST: AUSTRIAN DESIGNER TAKES NUDE PHOTOS AT DEATH CAMP