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North native designs logo for Holocaust remembrance effort
![]() Peter Koutrouba displays the T-shirt design he came up with for the Remember Six Million project. (Submitted photo)
Top Headlines She was saved by a gentile family that hid her and 16 other people in the basement of their bakery. A lifetime later, Dora has inspired a new grassroots campaign with local ties. The Remember Six Million project will commemorate the victims of the holocaust. In turn it hopes to raise awareness and help prevent future genocides. With Dora's story in mind, Peter Koutrouba, a former North Attleboro resident, went to work designing the centerpiece of the project. His "Never Forget' T-shirts are available at the campaign's website, www.remembersixmillion.com. Produced by San Diego-based Amen Clothing, the shirts were the brainchild of company co-founders Debra and Howard Solomon. The couple hopes to sell one T-shirt for each person lost in the Holocaust. Last year the Solomons visited Dora, a relative of Debra's, in France and toured her old neighborhood. She described for them her ordeal and those years in hiding. The Remember Six Million movement was born out of that visit. According to Debra, "they just had to do something." The company's business plan involves making fashionable shirts with a message - and that's where Koutrouba comes in. "He's the eye of design for Amen Clothing," said Howard. After relocating to the West Coast, Koutrouba began work as a full time personal trainer. "The Solomons were among my first clients," said Koutrouba, who was voted one of the top 100 trainers in the country by Men's Journal magazine. The 1997 graduate of North Attleboro High School describes his art as a "hobby" that he's trying to take to a "different level." Howard Solomon thinks that is too modest. "We knew he dabbled in freehand drawing, but we had no idea how talented he was," he said. "It's important that the shirts were appropriate for all ages and at the same time bold and eye catching," said Koutrouba. As for the Never Forget logo, "the dove represents something both peaceful and positive." The concept and the story behind the project appealed to Koutrouba. "It's inspiring," he said. "A subject for everybody. Like most people, I was educated on it. But like a lot of things, until you know someone it doesn't hit home." The Remember Six Million campaign culminates on May 1, Holocaust Remembrance Day. By then, Koutrouba and the Solomons hope to have sold enough shirts so that six million people around the world will be wearing them in a show of unity. The Web site, which features a short film on the Holocaust, keeps a running count of the number of shirts sold. Amen Clothing will donate 10 percent of the price of each shirt sold to two nonprofit charities, The Blue Card and the International Rescue Committee. "We wanted to find charities where the money donated had an immediate impact," said Howard Solomon. The Blue Card aides Holocaust survivors who live at or near the poverty level while the IRC helps refugees around the world, protecting vulnerable populations. Howard Solomon added that, "Our donations to the IRC will help with emergency relief for refugees in 25 countries, including Darfur. Hopefully, our contribution will make a huge impact on many lives." Amen Clothing hopes to create more T-shirts for worthy causes. "Next year we are planning on doing something relating to children and respecting others," said Solomon. Koutrouba will be there with them. "I'm working on newer designs," he said. "It's fun to see your design on a shirt." As for their current project, he said, "It's difficult to sell six million T-shirts but important. And it's something that's never been done before." The response so far has been positive. Koutrouba enthusiastically said that his crew down at the gym "loved it." When France was liberated, Dora emerged from hiding to find that her family had all been killed at Auschwitz. "It was devastating," said Debra Solomon. "Not only did she lose her immediate family but she also lost aunts and uncles. She was all alone." But in the spirit that inspired the Remember Six Million campaign, she went on. "Dora (who is now in her 80s) ended up marrying the son of the baker at the bakery where she hid," said Debra. "He was a wonderful man who loved Dora very much."
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