Dancing at Auschwitz

Discussion in 'The Holocaust' started by KevinC, Jul 15, 2010.

  1. KevinC

    KevinC Slightly wierd

  2. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    When I first heard the news item concerning a video made of a survivor dancing at Auschwitz I wondered what the hell it was all about.

    A simple entry into GOOGLE using the tags "survivor dances Auschwitz" immediately offered 66,700 hits including Youtube's "I Will Survive: Dancing Auschwitz" so it was obvious that the video had aroused plenty of interest.

    The YOUTUBE video is attributed to a Jane Korman and this description follows:

    On a recent trip to Europe, a family of three generations (a Holocaust survivor, his daughter and his grandchildren) dance to Gloria Gaynor's pop song - 'I Will Survive' at concentration camps and memorials throughout Europe.
    This clip was first edited with the help of my friend Pisithpong Siraphisit who runs Compeung Art Village, Chiang Mai, Thailand. This dance is a tribute to the tenacity of the human spirit and a celebration of life.
    Despite the systematic brutality and cruelty endured, we have still survived".

    I forced myself to watch the video to it's bitter end, becoming increasingly annoyed with those who would produce something of this nature. If I was asked to describe it in one word "disgusting" would be a fair description of my reaction to this insult to those who had perished within the camp walls.

    It is patently obvious, to me at least, that the survivor in the video was being cruelly manipulated by the younger members of the "troupe" and, left to his own devices, would probably never in a million years have considered dancing at this memorial to those who had perished at the very spot on which he now danced.

    I have but three points to make.

    1. Were there no guards or Museum curators present to stop this charade ?

    2. Given that no other visitors are visible, when & how was the video made ?
    and finally (and probably most importantly).......

    3. Are those responsible for making and posting the video aware that within a very short space of time the video was being shown on virulent antisemitic sites ?

    One of the comments on one of these sites, made in response to the video was "Funny how we are forced to keep such a reverence, of the Holocaust yet a Jew can make this"

    I rest my case

    Ron
     
  3. arkrite

    arkrite Senior Member

    There exists today a manner of "cheapening" things . We hear the words like heroes, courage, bravery and suffering thrown around in circumstances which no way deserve such descriptions. How many times do we hear people saying their lives have been ruined when in fact its no more than a hiccup in life.
    What next ? Pop videos at places of horror and suffering and of remembrance.
    Perhaps I am not expressing myself very well. The thought " Dancing on someones grave" comes to mind and I do not find that an act of respect.
     
  4. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Having seen it on several other forums, I've no problem with it.
    If I did it, it'd be excruciatingly bad taste, but if an 89 year old survivor of that specific camp thinks he should dance with his family then that's nothing to do with me I reckon. People get through their personal horrors in different ways, and I ain't going to judge him.

    "I didn't mind dancing because I arrived with my five grandchildren and my daughter in Auschwitz. If somebody had asked me then that I would come 62 years later with my grandchildren to Auschwitz, I would send him to a madhouse."
    The dancing, he added, "was very important because we are alive, we survived."
    "We created a generation, a new generation, a beautiful generation,"

    I don't really care that the st*rmfronters et. al. 'promoted' it either.
    If I said the sky was blue they'd quite likely find some reasoning to fit it to their tired old hate spiel. So their views, or role in anything, mean little to me.

    I found this the most interesting 'postscript', Mr Kohn showing his family around:
    [YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

    The second part of her original installation can be seen on his daughter's channel:
    YouTube - janekorman's Channel
    Though it looks like the main dance has been removed because of copyright over the Gaynor song...
     
  5. Fireman

    Fireman Discharged

    My first instinct is to think it is completely inappropriate. I felt also that I should first see it and then decide. However when I try, I get a notice (In French) telling me it is 'awaiting a claim for viewing rights by the auther!) That indicates , perhaps, that the author is hoping to gain some sort of financial advantage from the video. If that were the case then my first instincts would be correct, of course I may be maligning the author so will have to wait until I have seen it.
     
  6. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I get.
    'The Video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by APRA.'
    I assume APRA = Australasian Performing Right Association

    I wonder if Gloria Gaynor's record company have lodged a copyright claim.
    ah, I see Adam already said that.
     
  7. Spañiard

    Spañiard Junior Member

    Saw the video in question, Dancing where many horrifically lost their lives.

    They should be ashamed of themselves.
     
  8. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Surely a SURVIVOR of the camp can do what he likes there?
    I wouldn't blame if he'd gone and had a pee in the old Commandant's office.
    edit: seen it now
    [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7PtrFJtseg[/YOUTUBE]
     
  9. Spañiard

    Spañiard Junior Member

    Surely a SURVIVOR of the camp can do what he likes there?
    I wouldn't blame if he'd gone and had a pee in the old Commandant's office.
    edit: seen it now
    [YOUTUBE]j7PtrFJtseg[/YOUTUBE]


    Then the question I would ask Is does the need Of one or say 30 survivors weigh the feelings as horrific memories of Thousands of Survivors.

    As for the Pee in the Old Commandant' Office :lol: I wouldn't hold it against the individual how wishes to.


    For Me I watched it and it left a bad taste in my mouth.
     
  10. Fireman

    Fireman Discharged

    Well now I have seen it!
    I'm not a prude and by and large I think people should be able to do as they wish, with one qualification, if it is offensive to others then whatever it is shouldn't take place. I look at the holocaust with a detached but intense interest and patently this would be offensive to many people, Jews and non Jews alike. Although I am not horribly offended by the dance it shouldn't, in my view, have taken place, but then again I'm not Jewish let alone a survivor so I can imagine how some people would feel.! It is, in my opinion, in dreadfully bad taste and completely unnecessary.

    I don't think peeing in the Commandants Office or any other demonstration is on either! This place is a memorial for Gods sake. Correct behavoir from all, survivors and vistors alike is required.

    I seem to remember a story about someone urinating on a war memorial in Britain and the storm it caused, and rightly so. There are never good reasons for bad or insulting behavoir no matter what the circumstances.
     
  11. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    Surely a SURVIVOR of the camp can do what he likes there?
    I wouldn't blame if he'd gone and had a pee in the old Commandant's office.
    edit: seen it now
    [YOUTUBE]j7PtrFJtseg[/YOUTUBE]

    Saw the video.

    I doubt that I would have been one to do such a thing, but if that man and his progeny choose to celebrate in that manner his deliverance from evil and his subsequent long life, then I think he damned well earned the privilege.
     
  12. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    Nazism danced on the graves of 6,000,000 Jews plus all the other murdered ones. I see it as justice that this man had the final dance on this place of torment.

    "He laughs best who laughs last." Or "You did your best to murder us all, yet here I am."
     
    von Poop likes this.
  13. DoveRenee

    DoveRenee Junior Member

    I saw a tad of it and found it disgusting. To me, it's as if nothing horrible happened there to our brothers and sisters. I voted and was in the minority. The majority stated that it was OK.
     
  14. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    The video appears to have gone again (I'm still wondering how I missed this thread).

    IMO Anyone who survived such a horror has the right to do what they want there - after all they were there and the rest of us can only begin to imagine the horrors. Owen as for peeing? If it was me I'd have taken a 'three penny bit' in there !
     
    Owen likes this.
  15. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

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