Saturday, February 09, 2008
Lithuanian parade mocks Jews
Vilnius Catholics derogatorily portray Jews in holiday parade
By Michael Casper, The Forward
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/952553.html
Sun., February 10, 2008 Adar1 4, 5768
VILNIUS, Lithuania - Last month, a samba group in Rio de Janeiro caused an international furor when it announced its intention to participate in the city's Carnival event on a float depicting Holocaust victims. After outcries from the Brazilian Jewish community, a judge banned the group from using the float.
Although less well known, a similarly questionable effort to celebrate the same holiday takes place in this city, once known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania because of the breadth and piety of its Jewish community.
During Carnival - or Uzgavenes, as it is known in Lithuania - Catholics from around the world congregate for a feast of foods prohibited during Lent. The festival usually involves a parade or circus, with attendees in masks and costumes. But in Vilnius - commonly known to Jews as Vilna - participants traditionally dress and act "as Jews," a feat that generally calls for masks with grotesque features, beards and visible ear locks and that is often accompanied by peddling and by stereotypically Jewish speech.
Perhaps even more shockingly, the "festivities" extend beyond the parade itself and into a Halloween-style trick-or-treating. When Simonas Gurevicius, the 26-year-old executive director of the Jewish Community of Lithuania, opened the door to his house during last year's Uzgavenes, he was greeted by two children dressed in horns and tails, reciting a song that translates as, "We're the little Lithuanian Jews/We want blintzes and coffee/If you don't have blintzes/Give us some of your money." (It rhymes in Lithuanian.)
"They understand it as Halloween, a time to have fun and adventures," Gurevicius said. "On the one hand, it is important to respect the traditions of the country. On the other hand, psychologically it stays in their brain: The image of the Jew will be closely associated with the image from the festival."
Jewish history in Lithuania, centuries long and distinguished by a profusion of yeshivas and Torah scholars, nearly ended when most of the country's Jewish community was exterminated during the Holocaust. Today, the small but close-knit community hosts school groups at its center for educational sessions on Jewish life.
But according to Gurevicius, members of the Jewish community do not speak out against the parade, because they wish to avoid conflict with Lithuanians. "For sure, the Jewish people don't like so much the way Jews are shown with the other creatures," he said. But "someone could say we don't understand the humor. People think it's normal."
Diana, a 20-year-old Jewish medical student from Vilnius who did not wish to give her last name, was surprised to learn that Lithuanians dress as Jews during Uzgavenes. "It's not the most pleasant thing, but it could be worse" she said, adding that "they could be smashing menorahs" - a reference to protests surrounding the erection of a large menorah in the Lithuanian town of Siauliai last December.
Last Saturday, hundreds gathered in front of city hall in the capital to celebrate. The Web site of the Vilnius City Municipality promised that during Uzgavenes, which is an official holiday in Lithuania, "creatures wearing different masks - devils, witches, deaths, goats, Gypsies, and other joyful and scaring characters - hang around." Claiming to be dressed as a Jew, one woman tried to convince spectators to buy dirty handkerchiefs.
Although typical costumes include farm animals and monsters, masquerading is sometimes broadly referred to as "eiti zydukais," or "going as Jews," regardless of how one dresses.
The Roma do not fare better. Participants who masquerade as "Gypsies" wear gaudy makeup, hold babies and ask bystanders for money.
Last Friday, Vilnius's Center of Ethnic Activity hosted an exhibition of Uzgavenes masks and screened archival footage of past celebrations. Masks of Jews were displayed between those of witches and animals, and shown with no apparent compunction to cultural delegates from Latvia and Denmark. In a video shot in Vilnius last year, a man dressed as a Jew carrying a briefcase full of toilet paper haggled with cab drivers as he led a group of people made up as beasts through the streets.
"From my point of view," said Svetlana Novopolskaja, director of the Roma Community Centre of Vilnius, "Lithuanians like to dress as Roma, like their music and habits, but don't like Roma as people. They accept them as personages from fairy tales - as hobbits, for example - and are surprised and afraid when they meet real Roma."
Ethnologist Inga Krisciuniene, who works at the Centre of Ethnic Activity, led the event, explained how she believed that in earlier times, Jews and Gypsies dressed alike. Revelers wore the same mask on Uzgavenes to depict them, so that the characters were distinguishable only by performers' actions. When asked whether it could be seen as offensive to mock these minorities, Krisciuniene replied, "No one has ever complained." The intent, she said, is humorous.
"Besides," she added, "it's true that Gypsies steal."
By Michael Casper, The Forward
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/952553.html
Sun., February 10, 2008 Adar1 4, 5768
VILNIUS, Lithuania - Last month, a samba group in Rio de Janeiro caused an international furor when it announced its intention to participate in the city's Carnival event on a float depicting Holocaust victims. After outcries from the Brazilian Jewish community, a judge banned the group from using the float.
Although less well known, a similarly questionable effort to celebrate the same holiday takes place in this city, once known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania because of the breadth and piety of its Jewish community.
During Carnival - or Uzgavenes, as it is known in Lithuania - Catholics from around the world congregate for a feast of foods prohibited during Lent. The festival usually involves a parade or circus, with attendees in masks and costumes. But in Vilnius - commonly known to Jews as Vilna - participants traditionally dress and act "as Jews," a feat that generally calls for masks with grotesque features, beards and visible ear locks and that is often accompanied by peddling and by stereotypically Jewish speech.
Perhaps even more shockingly, the "festivities" extend beyond the parade itself and into a Halloween-style trick-or-treating. When Simonas Gurevicius, the 26-year-old executive director of the Jewish Community of Lithuania, opened the door to his house during last year's Uzgavenes, he was greeted by two children dressed in horns and tails, reciting a song that translates as, "We're the little Lithuanian Jews/We want blintzes and coffee/If you don't have blintzes/Give us some of your money." (It rhymes in Lithuanian.)
"They understand it as Halloween, a time to have fun and adventures," Gurevicius said. "On the one hand, it is important to respect the traditions of the country. On the other hand, psychologically it stays in their brain: The image of the Jew will be closely associated with the image from the festival."
Jewish history in Lithuania, centuries long and distinguished by a profusion of yeshivas and Torah scholars, nearly ended when most of the country's Jewish community was exterminated during the Holocaust. Today, the small but close-knit community hosts school groups at its center for educational sessions on Jewish life.
But according to Gurevicius, members of the Jewish community do not speak out against the parade, because they wish to avoid conflict with Lithuanians. "For sure, the Jewish people don't like so much the way Jews are shown with the other creatures," he said. But "someone could say we don't understand the humor. People think it's normal."
Diana, a 20-year-old Jewish medical student from Vilnius who did not wish to give her last name, was surprised to learn that Lithuanians dress as Jews during Uzgavenes. "It's not the most pleasant thing, but it could be worse" she said, adding that "they could be smashing menorahs" - a reference to protests surrounding the erection of a large menorah in the Lithuanian town of Siauliai last December.
Last Saturday, hundreds gathered in front of city hall in the capital to celebrate. The Web site of the Vilnius City Municipality promised that during Uzgavenes, which is an official holiday in Lithuania, "creatures wearing different masks - devils, witches, deaths, goats, Gypsies, and other joyful and scaring characters - hang around." Claiming to be dressed as a Jew, one woman tried to convince spectators to buy dirty handkerchiefs.
Although typical costumes include farm animals and monsters, masquerading is sometimes broadly referred to as "eiti zydukais," or "going as Jews," regardless of how one dresses.
The Roma do not fare better. Participants who masquerade as "Gypsies" wear gaudy makeup, hold babies and ask bystanders for money.
Last Friday, Vilnius's Center of Ethnic Activity hosted an exhibition of Uzgavenes masks and screened archival footage of past celebrations. Masks of Jews were displayed between those of witches and animals, and shown with no apparent compunction to cultural delegates from Latvia and Denmark. In a video shot in Vilnius last year, a man dressed as a Jew carrying a briefcase full of toilet paper haggled with cab drivers as he led a group of people made up as beasts through the streets.
"From my point of view," said Svetlana Novopolskaja, director of the Roma Community Centre of Vilnius, "Lithuanians like to dress as Roma, like their music and habits, but don't like Roma as people. They accept them as personages from fairy tales - as hobbits, for example - and are surprised and afraid when they meet real Roma."
Ethnologist Inga Krisciuniene, who works at the Centre of Ethnic Activity, led the event, explained how she believed that in earlier times, Jews and Gypsies dressed alike. Revelers wore the same mask on Uzgavenes to depict them, so that the characters were distinguishable only by performers' actions. When asked whether it could be seen as offensive to mock these minorities, Krisciuniene replied, "No one has ever complained." The intent, she said, is humorous.
"Besides," she added, "it's true that Gypsies steal."
Labels: Lithuania, Mocking Jews, Parade, Vilna, Vilnius
Holocaust carnival float in Brazil
Brazil judge bans carnival float depicting naked Holocaust victims
By The Associated Press
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/950111.html
Sat., February 02, 2008 Shvat 26, 5768
A judge issued an order Thursday prohibiting a Rio samba group from parading during carnival with a float depicting naked bodies of Holocaust victims.
Judge Juliana Kalichsztein issued the injunction against the float in response to a lawsuit by the Jewish Federation of Rio de Janeiro, which asked for the float be removed from this city's famed carnival parade next week, a spokeswoman for the judge told reporters.
The Jewish Federation of Rio de Janeiro filed the lawsuit under federal laws prohibiting Nazi propaganda and racism in Brazil, said Lara Voges, a court spokeswoman.
Viradouro, a top Rio samba group who planned the float, said it would not comment until its president saw the court's decision. The float was designed to remind carnival-goers of past horrors to prevent them from happening again, the group said.
But Jewish leaders were outraged by the float, which contained piles of naked mannequins meant to depict corpses of Holocaust victims.
"It's inadmissible that they could have a parade float depicting dead Jews and a live Hitler on top of them," said federation spokesman Jose Roitberg.
Rio de Janeiro state Judge Juliana Kalichszteim agreed, calling Viradouro's plans a clear trivialization of barbaric events.
Carnival should not be used as a tool for the cult of hate, any form of racism, the judge said.
Rio's two-night Samba parade, featuring thousands of scantily clad and elaborately plumed dancers, is the high point of Brazil's carnival celebrations and is televised nationally in a country of 185 million people.
During the event, Rio's 12 top-tier samba groups each present an 80-minute parade featuring hundreds of drummers and thousands of dancers who compete to be the year's champion.
Each group chooses a theme reflected in music, costumes and floats.
Viradouro, which is scheduled to parade early Monday morning, chose the theme, It Gives You Goose Bumps, featuring floats depicting the shock of birth and cold, along with the pile of Holocaust victims.
Although the samba group refused to say whether it had planned to have a dancing Hitler, it was listed in the official parade description as part of the float.
According to Kalichszteim's decision, the group would face fines of 200,000 reals ($113,000) if it ignored her order by parading with the mannequins and 50,000 reals ($28,000) for each dancer dressed as Hitler.
News of the float drew worldwide attention. Earlier this week, the international Jewish human rights group Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a statement of protest.
On Wednesday, a second-division samba group agreed to remove swastikas from dancers' costumes following complaints from the Rio Jewish federation. The group, Estacio de Sa, also agreed to drop a section of the parade named after Hitler.
"I think it's in terribly bad taste," said sociologist and carnival scholar Roberto DaMatta. "But it makes sense considering the festival's sacrilegious origins," he added.
"The only problem is we're not in the Middle Ages anymore. It doesn't work in a modern society," DaMatta said.
Past carnival groups have had to change floats because of the Roman Catholic Church, which doesn't want depictions of the Virgin Mary or Christ.
In 2004, the Grande Rio group had to alter a float depicting Adam and Eve having sex and another featuring sexy scenes from Hinduism's Kama Sutra after the Catholic Church sued over its parade advocating condom use.
----
Holocaust carnival float shocks in Brazil
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/30/2149858.htm?section=justin
Posted Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:39am AEDT
Updated Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:25pm AEDT
Jewish groups in Brazil have expressed disgust over a controversial float to appear in Brazil's upcoming carnival parade that depicts dead victims of the Nazi Holocaust.
The display, by the Unidos da Viradouro school, will be sandwiched among 11 others that are to parade along the city's carnival avenue on Sunday.
In dramatic contrast to the floats carrying sequined, scantily clad dancers smiling and gyrating, the Holocaust entry will show only motionless, skeletal figures piled on top of each other.
Its creator defended the float, which will move along under the theme "It's Horrifying".
"It's a very respectful float. It's going to depict it [the Holocaust] as a sort of alarm, so that it never be repeated," the creator, Paulo Barros, said.
"I believe the carnival is also a way of showing what happens in the world," he said.
But Brazilian Jewish groups are not seeing it that way.
'Tragedy in their skin'
Sergio Niskier, the president of the Israelite Federation of Rio de Janerio, said it was "inappropriate" to punctuate the festival atmosphere of carnival with a scene symbolising the systematic murder of 6 million people in Nazi concentration camps between 1938 and 1945.
"Really, it makes no sense to highlight this issue with drums and dancing girls when there are still survivors of that horror and many of their descendants who carry the mark of that tragedy in their skin," he told reporters.
Barros, however, said he informed the Jewish group of his plans months ago.
"They were anxious about putting this float in a carnival atmosphere," he admitted.
But, he predicted: "When the float goes by, people will feel respect."
A counterpart at the rival Grande Rio samba school, Roberto Szaniecki - himself of Polish Jew descent - disagreed.
"It's insensitive. The parade is going to be broadcast in Europe. I don't have grandparents because of the Holocaust," he told the newspaper O Dia.
- AFP
By The Associated Press
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/950111.html
Sat., February 02, 2008 Shvat 26, 5768
A judge issued an order Thursday prohibiting a Rio samba group from parading during carnival with a float depicting naked bodies of Holocaust victims.
Judge Juliana Kalichsztein issued the injunction against the float in response to a lawsuit by the Jewish Federation of Rio de Janeiro, which asked for the float be removed from this city's famed carnival parade next week, a spokeswoman for the judge told reporters.
The Jewish Federation of Rio de Janeiro filed the lawsuit under federal laws prohibiting Nazi propaganda and racism in Brazil, said Lara Voges, a court spokeswoman.
Viradouro, a top Rio samba group who planned the float, said it would not comment until its president saw the court's decision. The float was designed to remind carnival-goers of past horrors to prevent them from happening again, the group said.
But Jewish leaders were outraged by the float, which contained piles of naked mannequins meant to depict corpses of Holocaust victims.
"It's inadmissible that they could have a parade float depicting dead Jews and a live Hitler on top of them," said federation spokesman Jose Roitberg.
Rio de Janeiro state Judge Juliana Kalichszteim agreed, calling Viradouro's plans a clear trivialization of barbaric events.
Carnival should not be used as a tool for the cult of hate, any form of racism, the judge said.
Rio's two-night Samba parade, featuring thousands of scantily clad and elaborately plumed dancers, is the high point of Brazil's carnival celebrations and is televised nationally in a country of 185 million people.
During the event, Rio's 12 top-tier samba groups each present an 80-minute parade featuring hundreds of drummers and thousands of dancers who compete to be the year's champion.
Each group chooses a theme reflected in music, costumes and floats.
Viradouro, which is scheduled to parade early Monday morning, chose the theme, It Gives You Goose Bumps, featuring floats depicting the shock of birth and cold, along with the pile of Holocaust victims.
Although the samba group refused to say whether it had planned to have a dancing Hitler, it was listed in the official parade description as part of the float.
According to Kalichszteim's decision, the group would face fines of 200,000 reals ($113,000) if it ignored her order by parading with the mannequins and 50,000 reals ($28,000) for each dancer dressed as Hitler.
News of the float drew worldwide attention. Earlier this week, the international Jewish human rights group Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a statement of protest.
On Wednesday, a second-division samba group agreed to remove swastikas from dancers' costumes following complaints from the Rio Jewish federation. The group, Estacio de Sa, also agreed to drop a section of the parade named after Hitler.
"I think it's in terribly bad taste," said sociologist and carnival scholar Roberto DaMatta. "But it makes sense considering the festival's sacrilegious origins," he added.
"The only problem is we're not in the Middle Ages anymore. It doesn't work in a modern society," DaMatta said.
Past carnival groups have had to change floats because of the Roman Catholic Church, which doesn't want depictions of the Virgin Mary or Christ.
In 2004, the Grande Rio group had to alter a float depicting Adam and Eve having sex and another featuring sexy scenes from Hinduism's Kama Sutra after the Catholic Church sued over its parade advocating condom use.
----
Holocaust carnival float shocks in Brazil
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/30/2149858.htm?section=justin
Posted Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:39am AEDT
Updated Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:25pm AEDT
Jewish groups in Brazil have expressed disgust over a controversial float to appear in Brazil's upcoming carnival parade that depicts dead victims of the Nazi Holocaust.
The display, by the Unidos da Viradouro school, will be sandwiched among 11 others that are to parade along the city's carnival avenue on Sunday.
In dramatic contrast to the floats carrying sequined, scantily clad dancers smiling and gyrating, the Holocaust entry will show only motionless, skeletal figures piled on top of each other.
Its creator defended the float, which will move along under the theme "It's Horrifying".
"It's a very respectful float. It's going to depict it [the Holocaust] as a sort of alarm, so that it never be repeated," the creator, Paulo Barros, said.
"I believe the carnival is also a way of showing what happens in the world," he said.
But Brazilian Jewish groups are not seeing it that way.
'Tragedy in their skin'
Sergio Niskier, the president of the Israelite Federation of Rio de Janerio, said it was "inappropriate" to punctuate the festival atmosphere of carnival with a scene symbolising the systematic murder of 6 million people in Nazi concentration camps between 1938 and 1945.
"Really, it makes no sense to highlight this issue with drums and dancing girls when there are still survivors of that horror and many of their descendants who carry the mark of that tragedy in their skin," he told reporters.
Barros, however, said he informed the Jewish group of his plans months ago.
"They were anxious about putting this float in a carnival atmosphere," he admitted.
But, he predicted: "When the float goes by, people will feel respect."
A counterpart at the rival Grande Rio samba school, Roberto Szaniecki - himself of Polish Jew descent - disagreed.
"It's insensitive. The parade is going to be broadcast in Europe. I don't have grandparents because of the Holocaust," he told the newspaper O Dia.
- AFP
Labels: Brazil, Float, Holocaust, Holocaust art, Holocaust depiction, Holocaust sculpture, Holocaust show, Parade, Rio Carnival
