Today is the the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and UN General Assembly has designated this day as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
It started innocently enough. As a math and Jewish studies teacher in a Jewish day school, Phil Chernofsky was looking for a different and meaningful way for his students to relate to the Holocaust.
From that challenge comes “And Every Single One Was Someone”
The cover depicts a Jewish prayer shawl and has no words.
The entire book consists of just one word: Jew. It is repeated 6 million times.
Each page has 40 columns of 120 lines — 4,800 “Jews.” The font is, of course, Minion.
The book weighs 7.3 pounds.
The publisher’s goal is to eventually to print six million copies.
The publisher has also released a limited edition that is bound in a Tallis.
Story in the New York Times: Holocaust Told in One Word, 6 Million Times
Lead photo: Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times