Disco dancing at Auschwitz http://blogs.jta.org/ENTRY_PERMALINK_HERE/disco-dancing-at-auschwitz/ The Telegraph (not JTA’s catch-all blog, but the British newspaper) is reporting that some Holocaust survivors are upset over a viral video of a survivor and his daughter and grandchildren boogying down at various concentration camps to the Gloria Gaynor’s disco hit “I Will Survive.” en-us aeden@jta.org Copyright 2010 2010-07-13T;22:39:00-05:00 Comment by Leopold Friedman lnf11@columbia.edu I am more than a little dismayed that even some Jewish “professionals” don’t “get” what’s wrong with this kitsch. My survivor father now uses a “walker” to get around, so he doesn’t dance much anymore, but he “lights up” when he sees his grandchildren. I don’t have a problem with the survivor himself, bless him, or even his family, or even the concept of dancing to celebrate that Jews did survive the horrors of Hell to raise new families, etc. But Gloria Gaynor is singing about an individual relationship, not real survival, and the sites they are dancing on are “gravesites” in a very real sense. Some of us have a firmer grip on reality and decorum.  I could even hear “I Will Survive” sung and danced to and followed by “Am Yisroel Chai” at simkhas where the context is clear.  This Youtube video is kitsch for the sake of web hits. It may not even be very original. See http://www.tabletmag.com/life-and-religion/38292/viral-zionism/ I am more than a little dismayed that even some Jewish “professionals” don’t “get” what’s wrong with this kitsch.

My survivor father now uses a “walker” to get around, so he doesn’t dance much anymore, but he “lights up” when he sees his grandchildren.

I don’t have a problem with the survivor himself, bless him, or even his family, or even the concept of dancing to celebrate that Jews did survive the horrors of Hell to raise new families, etc.
But Gloria Gaynor is singing about an individual relationship, not real survival, and the sites they are dancing on are “gravesites” in a very real sense. Some of us have a firmer grip on reality and decorum. 

I could even hear “I Will Survive” sung and danced to and followed by “Am Yisroel Chai” at simkhas where the context is clear.  This Youtube video is kitsch for the sake of web hits. It may not even be very original. See
http://www.tabletmag.com/life-and-religion/38292/viral-zionism/

]]> 2012-05-24T;14:04:00-05:00 Comment by Rabbi Jason A. Miller rabbijam@umich.edu This is awesome! It is a wondrous work of art. This shows that AM YISRAEL CHAI—the Jewish people have endured and live and we celebrate life!!! One narrative that has emerged out of the Shoah is that of sadness and grief. This is another narrative that is also important—survivors of the Holocaust have had children and grandchildren and can return to the camps and proclaim their survival and celebrate their life. A man who survived the Holocaust and is now back at Auschwitz dancing with his grandchildren as his daughter films them is a beautiful thing. What a message this is to send to anti-Semites and Neo-Nazis. Hitler didn’t live into old age to dance with his grandchildren, but this man and millions of other survivors did! Amen. This is awesome! It is a wondrous work of art. This shows that AM YISRAEL CHAI—the Jewish people have endured and live and we celebrate life!!! One narrative that has emerged out of the Shoah is that of sadness and grief. This is another narrative that is also important—survivors of the Holocaust have had children and grandchildren and can return to the camps and proclaim their survival and celebrate their life.

A man who survived the Holocaust and is now back at Auschwitz dancing with his grandchildren as his daughter films them is a beautiful thing. What a message this is to send to anti-Semites and Neo-Nazis. Hitler didn’t live into old age to dance with his grandchildren, but this man and millions of other survivors did!

Amen.

]]> 2012-05-24T;14:04:00-05:00 Comment by Leopold Friedman lnf11@columbia.edu The creator of this video is following the bad examples of Roberto Benigni and Quentin Tarantino, who were not being antisemitic but crassly uncomprehending when they capitalized on the topic of Jewish suffering and the Holocaust for the sake of entertainment. I wouldn’t be so similarly harsh in judging a real survivor, but the video offends me as well. A survivor has a right to celebrate his survival, but not by dancing on the gravesites of others. His doing so sets a bad example for those who didn’t suffer at the site but will now be emboldened to trivialize it without comprehension or real experience of the horror. I am a child of survivors. The recently published opinion of a prominent “New Jew” pundit notwithstanding, there is no elite status, which he seemed to envy, to be conferred on those who suffered the Holocaust and certainly none on their descendants.  All that can be said is that they MAY have some closer awareness of what happened.  Although the survival does merit celebration, the suffering brings no particular nobility or wisdom or taste. The creator of this video is following the bad examples of Roberto Benigni and Quentin Tarantino, who were not being antisemitic but crassly uncomprehending when they capitalized on the topic of Jewish suffering and the Holocaust for the sake of entertainment. I wouldn’t be so similarly harsh in judging a real survivor, but the video offends me as well.

A survivor has a right to celebrate his survival, but not by dancing on the gravesites of others. His doing so sets a bad example for those who didn’t suffer at the site but will now be emboldened to trivialize it without comprehension or real experience of the horror.

I am a child of survivors. The recently published opinion of a prominent “New Jew” pundit notwithstanding, there is no elite status, which he seemed to envy, to be conferred on those who suffered the Holocaust and certainly none on their descendants.  All that can be said is that they MAY have some closer awareness of what happened. 

Although the survival does merit celebration, the suffering brings no particular nobility or wisdom or taste.

]]> 2012-05-24T;14:04:00-05:00 Comment by Daphne daphnedowns@aapt.net.au It works because the family who made this video is Jewish and are survivors… if anyone else had made this video it would have been morally wrong… It works because the family who made this video is Jewish and are survivors… if anyone else had made this video it would have been morally wrong…

]]> 2012-05-24T;14:04:00-05:00 Comment by Steve David sdavid@lammrubenstone.com My wife and I have a difference of opinion.  She’s the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and said that the video moved her to tears.  I thought the video was bizarre, to say the least.  Dancing to disco music on the hallowed ground where people were tortured and murdered is just outrageous.  Even the choice of song “celebrating” women’s liberation—not Holocaust survival—was inappropriate.  Imagine pulling a stunt like that at Yad Vashem, where visitors respectfully speak in solemn whispers.  They would have been rightfully booted out. My wife and I have a difference of opinion.  She’s the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and said that the video moved her to tears. 

I thought the video was bizarre, to say the least.  Dancing to disco music on the hallowed ground where people were tortured and murdered is just outrageous.  Even the choice of song “celebrating” women’s liberation—not Holocaust survival—was inappropriate.  Imagine pulling a stunt like that at Yad Vashem, where visitors respectfully speak in solemn whispers.  They would have been rightfully booted out.

]]> 2012-05-24T;14:04:00-05:00 Comment by rOBERTA mATZ Roberta.matz@shalomdel.org I think that the message is strong- he survived, he has children and gradnchildren and being able to revisit the death camps makes a strong statementt hat Hitler did not succeed!. It is a fresh approach and we should appecicte the sentiment it represetns for this family. I think that the message is strong- he survived, he has children and gradnchildren and being able to revisit the death camps makes a strong statementt hat Hitler did not succeed!. It is a fresh approach and we should appecicte the sentiment it represetns for this family.

]]> 2012-05-24T;14:04:00-05:00 Comment by David david.ehrens@gmail.com Sure, these folks could have been just about any Jewish family. The film maker was not afraid to push the boundaries of taste in order to get across a human message of gratitude for survival and hope for something better. I especially liked the segment where the family appeared before a monument where the universal message “Thou shalt not kill” appears prominently. This could have been some sappy political piece festooned with Israeli flags like the Birthright teenagers who overrun such destinations, but it was simply a family—that had survived. Bravo! Sure, these folks could have been just about any Jewish family. The film maker was not afraid to push the boundaries of taste in order to get across a human message of gratitude for survival and hope for something better. I especially liked the segment where the family appeared before a monument where the universal message “Thou shalt not kill” appears prominently. This could have been some sappy political piece festooned with Israeli flags like the Birthright teenagers who overrun such destinations, but it was simply a family—that had survived. Bravo!

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