Attention-seeking behaviour
BY now it’s clear that all bets are off when it comes to the Holocaust. It appears there is no aspect or symbol of genocide that is not subject to perverse abuse and cheap trivialisation. And this trend is hitting new lows.
In order to grab attention and resurrect her forgotten career, Jewish comedienne Roseanne Barr has done a photo-spread titled “That Oven Feeling” for Heeb magazine’s German issue, in which she’s dressed as a domesticated version of Hitler. Heeb, established with backing from Steven Spielberg and Charles Bronfman, is described as a satirical Jewish cultural magazine.
Wearing the Fuhrer’s moustache, with her hair pulled back to imitate Hitler’s parted cut, she is shown holding a tray of burnt gingerbread “Jew cookies.” In another picture, wearing an armband with a large swastika, she takes out the “burnt Jew cookies” ready to take a bite. Apparently, Barr was channelling Hitler’s soul.
According to the magazine’s reporter, Barr was having fun and nailed “the Fuhrer’s facial expressions with twisted glee”. He writes that she “got off” dressing like a Nazi.
Barr, who is Jewish and who wrote on her blog that Hitler killed her entire family, claimed that she was combating anti-Semitism, only meant to make fun of Hitler and that she is “sick of being misunderstood”. In the midst of Operation Cast Lead she labelled Israel a “Nazi State”.
And believe it or not, Heeb’s publisher Josh Neumann insisted the photos were done for satire, not for shock value. He mocked those who dared challenge the immoral photos, “I want to cry from remorse, but I’m afraid the ensuing suds would cake the lenses of my glasses.”
So, burning and eating Jewish people is somewhat funny to Roseanne and the folks at Heeb, huh?
In tune with the mocking tone, Barr saved a polaroid of her Hitler depiction in a sandwich bag so she could give it to her 13-year-old son, “Maybe this will make my kid like me,” she noted.
Just because Barr is Jewish doesn’t give her the right to re-traumatise survivors and trample on their feelings. Barr and Heeb should have known that the horrors of the Holocaust must be approached with respect and sensitivity and that there is nothing funny about Hitler and the millions of Jews who were cremated in the ovens.
More broadly, what worries me is that Hitler and the Holocaust are becoming increasingly associated with laughter and are no longer an oxymoron. Holocaust memory has softened and the results are everywhere. Just watch Seinfelds “Soup Nazi” episode, Curb your Enthusiasm’s “The Survivor” episode, Borat and Bruno and, of course, The Producers.
What’s worse is that people are not appalled, but enjoy such objectionable, tasteless rubbish and are able to laugh without guilt about the inconceivable crimes against humanity and about those who perpetrated them.
There is nothing off-limits or too vulgar for today’s shockless society. Afflicted with historical amnesia, moral parameters have so shifted to the point where nobody bothers to question whether a dancing Hitler is crass and offensive. Instead, everyone is having too much fun and getting their money’s worth. They don’t understand that treating the Holocaust as a comedy is an outrage.
In the end, will anyone remember who Hitler and the Nazis really were?
Dr Dvir Abramovich, the Jan Randa senior lecturer in Hebrew and Jewish studies, is director of the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Jewish History and Culture.