Thursday 25 December 2008

Belgian radio: Comedian jokes about the Holocaust

The "Arbeit Macht Frei" sketch

"Jewish groups have condemned a Belgian public broadcaster for airing a show in which a standup comedian jokes about the Holocaust and the persecution of Jews.

The protest marked the third time in two months the VRT broadcaster was accused of gross insensitivity toward Jews. On Oct. 27, protests forced it to scrap a TV show about Adolf Hitler's supposed favorite dish - alpine trout in butter sauce - as part of a series about famous people's favorite foods.

In the 2008 review show "Het Besluit" - which aired Dec. 21 and is available on the VRT web site comedian Philippe Geubels accused Belgians Jews of overreacting to the food show. (...)

"What a comedian does is up to him, but the VRT decides to include it in the show. At that point, the question can be asked, is this the task of a public broadcaster?" asked Michael Freilich, the head of the Jewish magazine Joods Actueel."

Source: CBS
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Auschwitz: "Arbeit Macht Frei"

Geubels' sketch is entitled "Arbeit macht frei", (the sign on the entrance gate to the extermination camp of Auschwitz (Work makes one free), and the delighted audience can be heard laughing and clapping ... (here, in Dutch). The programme is scheduled to be broadcast again on Christmas day and on January 1.

Philippe Geubels:

"What will they do if there is a major gas leak here in Antwerp ? Will they sue the city on the ground of provocation ? Or will they preemptively file a complaint against anyone who dares to make jokes about the incident ? (...)

I have to be careful about what I say. My name is Geubels [pronounced as Goebbels] and I am a skinhead. I am already prepared for the letter these people [the Jews] will be sending me.

It's a real pity what happened to them, but I think that today it [the Holocaust] can no longer happen.

Jews have become much smarter. Nowadays, they are scattered all around the world and cannot be rounded up. Most of them are in the USA and shipping them back to Germany by train isn’t possible any more."

Source: VRT, CCOJB

- Belgium: Hitler favourite dish TV show scrapped due to pressure exerted by "Semites"
- Culinary tv program featuring Hitler’s 'favourite meal' will not be aired tonight
- Public tv channel makes promotion with Hitler caricature ad

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but I think that telling holocaust jokes is SICK, like telling jokes of your wife after she´s just died or about a person who has just been murdered or about a group of people blown up by a terrorist bomb, etc., it is far from funny, you just have to RESPECT certain things or we are beasts rather then human beings.

Juan