Outrage over net film mocking Holocaust

August 11, 2005 - 2:44PM

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, an influential Jewish human rights group, has expressed outrage at a spoof film on a Dutch website that uses tasteless references to the Holocaust to promote a fictional rave party.

Shimon Samuels, the centre's director for international affairs, said in a statement that he had sent a letter to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) complaining about the film for Housewitz, which notably shows DJs dressed as SS officers, promises "free hot showers" over images of death-camp gas chambers and calls for dancers to come dressed as "skinny Jews".

The main site making the clip available, Geenstijl, "has gone beyond the bounds of freedom of expression to an unprecedented level of obscenity," Samuels said, claiming that the film panders to skinheads and techno-revellers.

He said the date given for the non-existent rave party, May 4, 2005, corresponded to the international Holocaust Commemoration Day, and he called on the OSCE "to immediately stop the spread of this pernicious nihilism," which had already inspired copycat sites in Poland and Belgium.

The Dutch Internet anti-discrimination watchdog MDI said Wednesday it would file legal action against Geenstijl over the video, and on Tuesday the Auschwitz museum in Poland protested to the Dutch embassy to seek the removal of the clip.

A 22-year old Dutch student, identified as Dickie Thijssen, made the presentation, which first surfaced in the Netherlands in June. He has since apologised for his actions saying it was a joke in bad taste.

He removed the film from his website but not before it was copied by Geenstijl, a popular blog which claimed it was linking to the video to show that "today's youth is not really paying attention during history lessons."

