Dancing on Hitler's Face

OK, this is just awesome:

Link via Tony Pierce.

Comments

[The Libertarian Guy]

Inverse Godwinning?

[Colin]

Very nice.

Visited Auschwitz with a friend years ago. What was particularly interesting is that public transportation to the city left us far from the camp. There were no signs or directions anywhere. And locals refused to tell us where it was even though we could converse in Polish.

Finally, some guy took pity on us and drove us there.

As you would expect, it's an ominous place, made even more ominous by the souvenir shop out front.

[GILMORE]

I was there in 1992, Eurailing/Hitching across Europe...

Didnt' have your problem. We asked the train guys which way to go before we got off, and he looked at us like we were stupid. "See *those* tracks? (points to some sort of unsued line). "Just follow those". It made us remember everyone arrived by train, as we did. It was a sobering start. I dont remember it being that far, but we were used to hauling a few miles on foot for most things. Maybe you were on a different stop. We were on a super slow, super-local train line. However we did also experience the "amnesia" from some locals, who seemed to think the thing should be forgotten, and that pesky Westerners seem to want to make such a 'big deal' out of it, and that its somehow someone else's fault it happened to be located in their own town. We got this a lot all over the country, in fact; Poles we met (back then at least) had something of a 'denial complex' regarding WWII. Maybe its because the West left them at the mercy of the Germans, THEN the Russians, and that so many poles actually collaborated (with both), that they'd rather just forget the whole thing and move on. Probably not all that different than how Rwandan's think.

The thing I found ominous about it was how innocuous most of it looked, (and how comparatively small compared to the numbers that had passed through) ... and how well-maintained it was compared to Brzezinka-Birkenau across the way, which was larger and in ruins. The lawns were well kept and the buildings were all about 100% intact as far as I remember. It looked more like a New England private school campus/19th century factory site than a Death Camp.

I was not expecting to be so overwhelmed by the place, but ended up having almost a breakdown when we saw the 'interrogation' rooms in the north eastern building ("Block 11" - the 'prison within a prison', which looked identical to all the others from the outside), whose basement had the cells with fingernail scars on the walls, the deeply pockmarked wall in the back where they shot people...and the little cubbyholes under the stairs, the "standing rooms". It was the standing rooms that got me.

From Wikipedia: ""In the basement were located the "starvation cells"; prisoners incarcerated here were given neither food nor water until they were dead.[12] In the basement were the "dark cells"; these cells had only a very tiny window, and a solid door. Prisoners placed in these cells would gradually suffocate as they used up all of the oxygen in the cell; sometimes the SS would light a candle in the cell to use up the oxygen more quickly. Many were subjected to hanging with their hands behind their backs, thus dislocating their shoulder joints for hours, even days""

The cells under the stairs were sized so that you couldnt stand up straight, but were too narrow to sit, you would be jammed in and it would be walled up, and people would eventually asphyxiate when their legs gave out and they could no longer take pressure off their chests.

One was sized for children. Small children. It had a card next to it saying the body of a pre teen girl was removed when it was overrun by the Russians.

I squeezed into one, and then sort of lost it for a while. I couldnt talk to my buddy about anything without feeling like I was going to be sick or start weeping uncontrollably.

It left a lasting impression on me. It was very different to read about atrocities, versus seeing roomfuls of shoes, piles of hair, and fingernail marks on the walls of the standing rooms. It broke up a lot of underlying assumptions I had about human nature. I could not conceive of cruelty of this level, and often so personal. Gassing people, by contrast, seemed almost benign. At least it was quick and impersonal.

I am not "offended" by the video, and I am not easily offended, but I do find it pretty tasteless. I am normally the kind of person who likes black humor, and enjoy absurdist takes on tragedy, but I am just surprised anyone could actually *physically go there* and then say, "hey, Let's Dance!". It just seems glib, and disrespectful to a degree.

Just my .02. That said, the video would have been *much* better if they'd actually worked on their routine a little more. They looked like the Macarena at an old folks home. The concept is sorta funny, but it failed in The Execution (horrible, horrible pun intended)

Funny Holocaust Improv Joke: I was at an Upright Citizen's Brigade show where they set up a "Nazi at a fast food place", and he orders "Arbeit macht...nein... mit Fries!"

As with all improv, it was one of those 'you had to be there' things, but priceless.

[Abdul]

Somehow, Holocaust suriviors and their progeny doing a kickline underneath the Arbeit Mach Frei sign lacks the dignity you would think it would have.

Oh wait, that's because I accidentally had the soundtrack from Grease 2 playing. These guys are dancing to Gloria Gaynor. That's totally different.

[Warty]

The easily offended are easily offended.

[capitol l]

I am offended by this:

At the end of the video, the 89-year-old can be heard saying, "If someone would tell me here, then, that I would come 60-something years later with my grandchildren, I'd say 'What you talking about?' So here ? this is really a historical moment."

doesn't he know that it is "really an historical moment".

Also, that sentence has too many words for my liking.

[Pro Libertate]

It's "a historical moment," if you're an American. Though the rule used to hold universally, so "an" isn't dramatically wrong.

[capitol l]

I didn't say that my offense taking was done logically.

[wylie]

It's "taking offense", logic has no place in it.

[capitol l]

I wish the Reason staff would be more proactive in deleting offensive comments, such as this^, wylie.

For the record: I am offended.

[Enough About Palin]

Nothing is more offensive to me that censorship.

[capitol l]

People that are offended by others call for censorship, because they are offended, offends me, and I find it offensive to even bring it up.

[Kyle]

Hitler would be so pissed if he saw this

[Kyle]

Hitler would be so pissed if he saw this

[Citizen Nothing]

This actually brought a tear to my eye. (I'm becoming a sentimental old fuck, I guess.)

[robc]

Ditto.

And I dont get the offended. Although it doesnt surprise me. How that seen as a big middle finger to nazis is beyond me.

[robc]

put an "isnt" somewhere in that last sentence.

[Enough About Palin]

WTF is an isn't finger???

[Rhywun]

The actual sentiment doesn't even matter anymore. Just the tone in which one conveys it.

[ransom147]

also guilty...

[Kelton Baker]

My first reaction was this is offensive, but after realizing their intent, I say hooray for this video. Enough sanctimony, celebrate life and this victory dance of the living survivor and descendants!

[Warty]

If they were a bunch of skinheads slam-dancing to Screwdriver at Aushwitz, then I could see why people would be offended. As is....not so much.

[Some Guy]

That was actually really beautiful.

[robc]

Speaking of dictators, I wish joe were still around to defend that.

[channeling joe]

The headline is wrong. They weren't convicted of twittering. They were guilty of "violating a 2001 law prohibiting spreading false rumors about or attempting to destabilize the nation's banks".

Just try to destablize the banks in this country and see what happens to you.

I WIN THE THREAD.

AGAIN!!!

[jonathan]

The jews were made to wear yellow stars. The eu 'flag' is made up of yellow stars. Yes, stars that are yellow. The reichs, 3rd. and 4th. both love them.

[?]

"Dancing on Hitler's face" sounds like a sexual euphemism. Kinda like a Dirty Sanchez, but with less poop and more 'stache-lingus.

[Enough About Palin]

That's already known as The Weigeling.

[ev]

I made the mistake of going to Dachau alone once. I was there for three hours and wanted to cry the entire time.

I saw an Asian family taking a family picture in front of a Jewish memorial there. They were smiling. I wanted to kill them.

While I waited for the bus in Munich to take me there I was chillin' and smoking a smoke while listening to music. "You better bet" by the who is not permanently associated with that awful/enlightening experience.

[MP]

zzzzzzzzzz

[BRM]

While I don't find this offensive, it does cause me to wonder about what is next in this world without dignity.

What is next, "2 Girls and a Death's Head Helmet?"

[Some Guy]

I suspect that you and I have very different definitions of dignity.

[Warty]

Nothing is more dignified than mocking Nazis.

[LibertyMark]

My God.

I can't imagine something more dignified than a Grandpa, dancing joyously with his grandchildren, celebrating their lives as an repudiation of the evil that occurred there.

I feel the tears welling up again, but this time it's as much for rage at BRM as for sorrow that such evil has ever occurred on this planet.

[Seer]

Reminds me of how Mel Brooks said that it was better to mock racists and such than to speak of them with a sort of fearful reverence.

[Tim]

Seconded.

[Darkeyes]

Damn Jews lack all taste AND rhythm.

And I thought my Bar Mitzvah was the most embarrassed I could ever be...

[St.V]

Idk about all that... I mean, about 3:00 minutes in that old man is doing the Charleston with amazing rhythm.

[heller]

This is dumb.

[GHrtasuy]

I'm offended they didn't dance a tradional Jewish folk dance like the Macarana, Chicken Dance or Egyptian Lover.

[Nitori Kawashiro]

Big surprise: the comments section of that video has already degenerated into a shouting match on the subject of Israel's right to exist. Why is the world so obsessed with that tiny little state?

[R C Dean]

Why is the world so obsessed with that tiny little state?

Because, for all too many people, the only problem with the Holocaust was that the damn Germans didn't finish the job. Israel's existence reminds them that they came this close to fulfilling one of their secret dreams.

[Nitori Kawashiro]

Interesting fact for 13 July 2010:

"Columbia University professor Lincoln Mitchell recently claimed that on nearly every HuffPost news story concerning international affairs, regardless of the topic, he and his friends usually find that it takes no more than ten comments before its users are finding a way to blame Jews." (emphasis in original)

[Joe]

Maybe this (very talented) son of a Auschwitz survivor could perform there.

[LarryA]

Bravo!

[Detroit Joe]

This man has survived countless indignities that many in this day and age could never imagine. He has every right to celebrate his triumph with his family on the very spot where he was supposed to be eliminated. He lives and instead we have eliminated the Satan who vowed to extinguish an entire race and religion. I say dance on old man, you deserve it!

[John Webb]

"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by APRA." I say we find this APRA mother and fill his mailbox with flaming bags of pooh.