The Spanish government said it was "horrified" this Wednesday after a carnival parade in a city in the center of the country accused of "trivializing" the Holocaust.
Nazi soldiers, Jewish prisoners and chariot reminiscent of a gas chamber ... The carnival parade in Campo de Criptana aroused the indignation of the authorities. “Horrified by the carnival parade at Campo de Criptana. I unequivocally reject any trivialization of the Holocaust, ”said Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez on his Twitter account. "After being contacted, the organizers asked for forgiveness from the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain," she added.
Horrorizada x la comparsa del carnaval in Campo de Criptana. Rechazo sin matices a cualquier banalización d Holocausto. Tras contacto con organizadores han pedido Disculpas a la Federación de Comunidades Judías de 🇪🇸. Esencial seguir educando en la Memoria del Holocausto @MAECgob
- Arancha González (@AranchaGlezLaya) February 26, 2020"An affront to the memory of the victims of the Shoah"
Israel's ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon, had already condemned on Tuesday "the infamous trivialization of the Holocaust that took place during the Carnival of Campo de Criptana". "It is an affront to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and an intolerable manifestation of anti-Semitism," she wrote on Twitter.
This parade took place Monday in this city of 13,000 inhabitants located in the center of the country. According to videos broadcast by local media, participants disguised as Nazi soldiers and armed with false rifles were dancing to disco music. A group of women marched with Israeli flags and striped uniforms like those of prisoners in Nazi concentration camps while another woman was perched on a chariot with two Dobermans under two chimneys reminiscent of a gas chamber.
A similar controversy in Belgium
In a press release, the town hall apologized for the parade organized by a cultural association. According to the municipality, this association intended to make this parade a "tribute" to the 6 million Jews who died during the Holocaust. “Now that we have seen the performance, we share the criticism. If the initial objective was to commemorate the victims, it is obvious that it was not held, "added the town hall.
A similar controversy took place in Belgium where the Aalst carnival, which paraded caricatures of Orthodox Jews on Sunday, was also accused of anti-Semitism. This 600-year-old carnival was removed from UNESCO's intangible heritage after its 2019 edition, in which a chariot carved crooked nose Orthodox Jews, seated on bags of gold.
World
Croatia: Dolls representing a gay couple burnt down at a carnival
Montpellier
Montpellier: The “Karnaval des gueux” once again banned by the town hall
- Carnival
- anti-Semitism
- Holocaust
- World
- Spain