Hersh and Eli Weingarten, owners of Presentation Graphics in Brooklyn (and father and son, respectively), have a very personal connection to the Holocaust. Hersh’s parents (Eli’s grandparents) survived the Holocaust, as well as Eli’s grandparents on his mother’s side.

Moreover, Hersh’s parents were saved from the most notorious Nazi death camps by Schindler’s famous list. So it was a great honor for the Weingartens to be involved in the creation of a new exhibit commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day at United Nations headquarters, sponsored this year by March of the Living International.

The exhibit focuses on the lives of those who survived the Holocaust, juxtaposing images from the Holocaust with recent photos and stories from survivors. One of the display panels, for instance, shows a photo of the barracks at Buchenwald concentration camp. Elie Wiesel, who would survive and go on to win a Nobel Peace Prize, is pictured in the second row from the bottom, seventh from the left, along with a more recent photo of Wiesel that stands off from the barracks photo (click on the photo to the right for a larger version).

“January 27 is Holocaust Remembrance Day; it’s the day when the Russians liberated Auschwitz. The UN always has some exhibit during this time connected to the Holocaust, and this year they gave the exhibit to March of the Living,” explains Eli. “We got involved with March of the Living through a designer we know in charge of the exhibit. It was a great project to work on, but this exhibit had a personal meaning to us as well.”

Though they had a strong personal connection to the exhibit, the Weingartens and the Presentation Graphics team put the same heart and soul they put into every print project. Celebrating its 15th anniversary in April, Presentation Graphics is described by Hersh as a “large-format boutique that’s very customized and builds very close relations with our customers.”

And this was a very customized exhibit that required a lot of attention to detail. Working closely with the designer, Presentation Graphics used LexJet 8 Mil Production Satin Photo Paper, laminated with LexJet Performance Matte Vinyl Laminate (3 Mil) to seal the images mounted on half-inch black boards that make up the bulk of the display.

Silicone-edge graphics were printed on a silk poplin material and used for the larger pieces in the center of the exhibit walls. Much of this was backed with LexJet Print-N-Stick Fabric applied to the walls of the exhibit to act as a background.

Eli estimates that they printed about 90 different pieces of varying sizes applied to five different walls that all came together into a cohesive whole.

“We consulted with Kara Work, our LexJet rep, on what to use, and she recommended a clear matte laminate, which we found to have superb quality and a beautiful look. For the walls, the UN was concerned about graphics leaving behind a residue and damaging the walls because they had a bad experience in the past, which is why Kara recommended Print-N-Stick,” says Eli. “The fabric look is classy and has a matte finish, which was important to us because we didn’t want the glare from the lights to detract from the message. The UN was happy with the Print-N-Stick solution because it was easy to move around during installation, and when they remove it in a month it won’t leave any residue or damage the walls.”

The exhibit officially opened on Jan. 28 with a reception featuring Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosser, as the keynote speaker, and runs through the end of this month.