Israeli sculptor Danny Caravan, 90, dies

Caravan was born in Tel Aviv in 1930 to the son of Polish immigrants. His parents’ families lost many of their members during the Holocaust. Therefore, the memory of the extermination of the Jews is an important theme in his work. Caravan first learned painting at Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, then studied painting in Florence and Paris. In 1996 he acquired Kaiserring from Goslar.

The Caravan has created exciting artworks all over the world. Its trademarks are easily accessible monuments – like Heinrich-Böll-Platz in Cologne or the “Human Rights Street” in the National Germanic Museum in Nuremberg.

Its “Pasagene” memorial site in Portbou, Spain, which was completed in 1994, is particularly well known. It reminds us of the German philosopher Walter Benjamin, who died in a small Spanish frontier town in 1940 while fleeing the National Socialists.

Also in his Israeli homeland, Caravan created many archaeological artworks in the landscape, including the Negev Brigade monument in Beersheba and the “White City” monument in Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv Mayor Sholdai praised Karavan as “the son of the city and the honorary citizen of the city” and “an artist who achieved worldwide fame.” In his hometown in the Mediterranean, he “left physical and spiritual traces.”