News
2010-09-29
Dancing on the graves
Dance in Auschwitz
Adam Kohn comes from Poland. He was born and raised in the city of Łódź. In 1940 he got to the Łódź ghetto, after which he was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp and a labor camp in Czechoslovakia. After the war Kohn returned to his motherland for a while and then went to Australia. The performance was organized on the territories of Łódź and Cracow ghettos as well as Auschwitz, Terezin, Dachau and Radagast camps. It was initiated by Kohn’s daughter who encouraged her father to dance and put the video on the Internet. She explains that the film is a manifestation of joy connected with her father’s Holocaust survival and the birth of a new generation of Jews. However, opinions concerning the clip are different. Some survivors say that Kohn has trivialized the Shoah. Moreover, they believe that one should not dance on the earth where murdered people rest.
The debate has revealed several serious problems. Firstly, the Holocaust has become a part of popular culture. Now the discourse concerning this subject is changing. A reflection on the sufferings of murdered people has been replaced by the cult of those who survived. Shevah Weiss, a former ambassador of Israel in Poland, said that he did not like such a philosophy of victory. During the war Jews did not win anything. However, is not survival a victory in a way? The question raises another difficult issue. After the war the survivors wondered if it was possible to enjoy their daily routine when so many people had died. They felt guilty. Now, looking at their grandchildren, they are able to appreciate the gift of life and feel happy about bringing up new generations. Dancing in Auschwitz helped Kohn release himself from pangs of conscience. He does not want to feel sorry for being alive anymore. Should we really condemn him for that?
Archive
- may 2012
- april 2012
- march 2012
- february 2012
- january 2012
- december 2011
- november 2011
- october 2011
- september 2011
- august 2011
- july 2011
- june 2011
- may 2011
- april 2011
- march 2011
- february 2011
- january 2011
- december 2010
- november 2010
- october 2010
- september 2010
- The Righteous about the Holocaust (2010-09-30)
- Maryan – artist’s desires (2010-09-30)
- The Aftermath of the Holocaust - a conference in Jerusalem (2010-09-30)
- We have books for you! (2010-09-30)
- Dancing on the graves (2010-09-29)
- Toeplitz Family (2010-09-29)
- Sukkah arrived to Katowice (2010-09-29)
- Discovering cultures and tastes (2010-09-28)
- Finding Shlomo Cohen Rabinovitch (2010-09-28)
- The House of Culture instead of the old synagogue (2010-09-27)
- Days of Jewish Culture in Olsztyn (2010-09-27)
- “Hanukkah Evening” at Lalka Theater (2010-09-27)
- Leo Baeck - The most famous Jew from Leszno (2010-09-27)
- Let's wish Happy Sukkot (2010-09-24)
- Israeli dances in Warsaw (2010-09-24)
- Science Festival in JHI (2010-09-24)
- Let's get know esperanto and its creator (2010-09-23)
- Commemorate Day of the Victims of the Lithuanian Jews’ Genocide (2010-09-23)
- Matzevot discovered in Mielec (2010-09-23)
- Synagogues of Katowice (2010-09-22)
- Kaddish for Akiva Eger (2010-09-22)
- Forum Geschichtswerkstatt Europa in Vilnius (2010-09-21)
- Sukkot Holiday in Tykocin (2010-09-21)
- Sukkot is comming (2010-09-21)
- The President of Poland wished the Jewish community a Happy New Year and Yom Kippur (2010-09-20)
- I live in interesting times – meeting Zofia Maj (2010-09-20)
- Mornings full of Jewish culture (2010-09-20)
- Lapidaire In Międzychód (2010-09-20)
- A week with Jan Karski (2010-09-20)
- LE CHAIM – Jewish Culture Days In Olsztyn (2010-09-17)
- A new historical route in Majdanek (2010-09-17)
- The first Film Festival in Międzyrzecz (2010-09-17)
- The Festival of Three Cultures in Włodawa (2010-09-17)
- 116th birth anniversary of Julian Tuwim (2010-09-16)
- The siege of Warsaw in the photographs of Julien Bryan (2010-09-16)
- Première of Hanoch Levin`s play (2010-09-16)
- Save from oblivion (2010-09-16)
- Exhibition of Judaicas in the Museum of Zagłębie (Muzeum Zagłębia) (2010-09-15)
- The Lasting Memory (2010-09-15)
- The destiny of a Jewish boy’s drawings (2010-09-15)
- The Jan Karski and Pola Nireńska Prize awarded to Joanna Nalewajko-Kulikov (2010-09-14)
- An unfinished story (2010-09-14)
- Polish and German students cleaning Jewish cemetery in Wrocław (2010-09-14)
- Difficult memory (2010-09-13)
- Vilnius between the wars (2010-09-13)
- There are only drawings left… (2010-09-13)
- Learn more about the Polish Righteous (2010-09-13)
- A guestbook is waiting for your comments! (2010-09-10)
- The Brazilian modernist returns to Vilnius (2010-09-10)
- Bajit Chadasz in Krakow (2010-09-10)
- Jewish Autumn in Oronsk (2010-09-10)
- 8th Days of Jewish Culture in Bedzin (2010-09-09)
- Three cultures in Lezajsk (2010-09-08)
- The tragic fate of Joanna (2010-09-08)
- Happy New Year 5771! (2010-09-08)
- Studies at Warsaw University - Jewish History and Culture in Poland (2010-09-07)
- Kosher restaurant opened in Warsaw (2010-09-07)
- How the ghetto in Bedzin was liquidated (2010-09-07)
- Three Cultures in Włodawa (2010-09-07)
- The project of the II WW Museum chosen (2010-09-06)
- The book Lives of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers published in Poland (2010-09-06)
- Besser is the patron of the synagogue in Katowice (2010-09-06)
- Singer Festival - Jazz on Próżna Street (2010-09-03)
- News in Hebrew! (2010-09-03)
- Anti-Semitism uprooted (2010-09-03)
- Suckever's elephants (2010-09-02)
- Żyd Niemalowany w Innym Wymiarze. (An Unpainted Jew in Another Dimension) (2010-09-02)
- Stories from the town of the blue color (2010-09-01)
- 10 years of the Auschwitz Jewish Center. (2010-09-01)
- august 2010
- july 2010
- june 2010
- may 2010
- april 2010
- march 2010
- february 2010
- january 2010
- december 2009
- november 2009
- october 2009
- september 2009
- august 2009
- july 2009
- june 2009
- may 2009
- october 2008
