By Vanessa Renderman
Features Editor

Mixed feelings have resulted from a poster that was used this past weekend at the 19th annual Holocaust Remembrance Conference.

In the poster that was used to advertise for the conference, a red swastika — a symbol of Nazis and hatred — was drawn tied with barbed wire to a dove.

"The younger you are, the less apt you are to be disturbed by these symbols," said Rabbi Gedalyah Engel, who coordinated the Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference.

Engel said the poster has received praise and criticism. Some people who were close to the Holocaust found it difficult to look at the symbol because it brought back horrible memories.

"If it’s further removed, it’s fine," Engel said.

He said that even those who didn’t like it still thought the concept was a good one.

Engel said the dove was supposed to show that peace will always dominate in the face of hatred.

"Peace will be supreme," he said.

Engel added that combining the dove and the swastika with barbed wire was symbolic in meaning — barbed wire was used in a display case in Stewart Center and was given by a conference speaker who had visited the site of the concentration camps.

Luiz Andrade, a graduate student, created this year’s poster and also created last year’s poster.

But this wasn’t the first time the conference poster has stirred discussion. A few years ago, a picture of Hitler was used in the poster to advertise for the conference.