Holocaust dance routine strikes chord with viewers

A Jewish Australian artist's musical interpretation of the Holocaust has drawn praise and condemnation after her survivor father was filmed dancing to the tune I Will Survive at Nazi death camp Auschwitz.

Jane Korman's 89-year-old father Adolek Kohn is joined by his daughter and her three children in dancing to the Gloria Gaynor disco classic in parts of Auschwitz - where 1.1 million were exterminated by Nazis during World War 2.

They are also videoed swaying to the beat in the grounds of the Dachau concentration camp in Germany, Poland's Lodz Ghetto Memorial, outside a synagogue and at the Theresienstadt concentration camp in the Czech Republic.

The clip, posted by Ms Korman on YouTube, shows the family dancing in front of Auschwitz's entrance under the iconic "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign and then on the railway tracks at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

At one point Ms Korman's son imitates the goose-step march associated with Nazi troops.

Mr Kohn, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz, has the final word, describing his return to Poland with his three grandchildren as "a really historical moment".

The video has received more than 320,000 hits, the responses are mostly favourable.

"It says to the Nazis - I survived. You failed. That family are dancing on the grave of Nazism and showing that the human spirit cannot be broken by evil, that is the biggest putdown to Nazism imaginable. Bravo," wrote one.

But, asked another, "I appreciate this gentleman surviving but what about those who didn't?"

Auschwitz survivor Kamil Cwiok, 86, said the video "seemed to trivialise the horrors that were committed there".

Mr Kohn had no warning of his daughter's plans when they embarked on their tour but was happy to comply.

"I didn't mind because I arrived with my grandchildren and my daughter to Auschwitz," he said.

"If someone had said I'd be there 63 years later, I would have sent them to the mad house.

"It was wonderful, but not everyone can understand why we danced," he admitted when confronted with adverse reactions.

"It's hard to answer. Again, we survived. We created a beautiful new generation."

Ms Korman told London's Daily Mail newspaper that the video was "a tribute to the tenacity of the human spirit and a celebration of life.

"I am proud of it, I also know many people can't accept it."

- NZPA