frgdr.com » Shoa http://frgdr.com/blog Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:07:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 I Will Survive: Dancing Auschwitzhttp://frgdr.com/blog/2010/07/10/i-will-survive-dancing-auschwitz/ http://frgdr.com/blog/2010/07/10/i-will-survive-dancing-auschwitz/#comments Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:16:38 +0000 Shahar Golan http://frgdr.com/blog/?p=3700 On a recent trip to Europe, a family of three generations (a Holocaust survivor, his daughter and his grandchildren) dance to Gloria Gaynor’s pop song -- ‘I Will Survive’ at concentration camps and memorials throughout Europe. The dance is a tribute to the tenacity of the human spirit and a celebration of life.


H/T: room404.net

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]]> http://frgdr.com/blog/2010/07/10/i-will-survive-dancing-auschwitz/feed/ 6 Israelis Sure Like the Aryan Lookhttp://frgdr.com/blog/2010/04/23/israelis-sure-like-the-aryan-look/ http://frgdr.com/blog/2010/04/23/israelis-sure-like-the-aryan-look/#comments Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:27:45 +0000 Shahar Golan http://frgdr.com/blog/?p=3314 2009 TV spot: Müller Yoghurt -- TBWA/Yehoshua


YouTube

2010 TV spot: Procter & Gamble’s Pampers Premium -- Adler Chomsky & Warshavsky


YouTube

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]]> http://frgdr.com/blog/2010/04/23/israelis-sure-like-the-aryan-look/feed/ 0 The Holocaust – Now at a Discounthttp://frgdr.com/blog/2010/04/08/the-holocaust-now-at-a-discount/ http://frgdr.com/blog/2010/04/08/the-holocaust-now-at-a-discount/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:21:36 +0000 Shahar Golan http://frgdr.com/blog/?p=3435 Yedioth Ahronot's Holocaust Discount Flier - Cover Page Today, within the pages of my daily newspaper I have found a flier titled ‘We must know, we must remember‘, sporting a Jewish yellow badge. As Holocaust Remembrance Day is next week I was interested in seeing what was inside the flier, as invoking such a powerful image, a Star of David patch with the German word ‘Jude‘ on it is a potent emotional symbol in Israel to this day. Opening the flier I found out that this is actually an advertisement and for 99NIS I can get my hands on two Holocaust-related books, thanks to a collaboration between the subscription department of Yedioth Ahronot and Steimatzky, Israel’s leading bookstore chain.
Yedioth Ahronot's Holocaust Discount Flier - Pages 2-3

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]]> http://frgdr.com/blog/2010/04/08/the-holocaust-now-at-a-discount/feed/ 0 Evil Winds, Full of Anger, Rage and Ravage, Smash and Shatterhttp://frgdr.com/blog/2010/03/13/evil-winds-full-of-anger-rage-and-ravage-smash-and-shatter/ http://frgdr.com/blog/2010/03/13/evil-winds-full-of-anger-rage-and-ravage-smash-and-shatter/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:12:39 +0000 Shahar Golan http://frgdr.com/blog/?p=3355 With the opening of the second Israeli IKEA store and the first ever H&M store, this has certainly been a successful week for Swedish corporations. The Israelis never seem to disappoint, proving time and time again they are willing to go to any distance for discounts. I guess you can get more crap when you pay less.
Most Israelis do not know IKEA’s founder Ingvar Kamprad was a member of the pro-Nazi Swedish Movement, and those who do know that fact don’t seem to care much. Holocaust-Shmolocaust, at these prices who can afford to hold a grudge.

Apparently I’m not the only one disgusted with retail to the point of evoking the memory of the Third Reich; A fellow Israeli saw the masses of Jews huddled in front of the H&M store, flooding in upon its opening, and decided to juxtapose the video footage with the famous Yiddish song ‘Our Town is Burning‘ (Undzer shtetl brent) by Mordecai Gebirtig. Here is the video, followed by the English version of the first stanza:

Our Town is Burning -- Mordecai Gebirtig -- English Lyrics

It’s burning, brothers! It’s burning!
Oh, our poor village, brothers, burns!
Evil winds, full of anger,
Rage and ravage, smash and shatter;
Stronger now that wild flames grow --
All around now burns!
And you stand there looking on
With futile, folded arms
And you stand there looking on --
While our village burns!

 

H/T: room404.net

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]]> http://frgdr.com/blog/2010/03/13/evil-winds-full-of-anger-rage-and-ravage-smash-and-shatter/feed/ 0 Nanna – A Poem by Shahar Golanhttp://frgdr.com/blog/2010/01/27/nanna-a-poem-by-shahar-golan/ http://frgdr.com/blog/2010/01/27/nanna-a-poem-by-shahar-golan/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:00:51 +0000 Shahar Golan http://frgdr.com/blog/?p=3100  

 

Show me the soap, Nanna
The one you said you kept,
The one inscribed R.I.F. for
Reichs-Juden-Fett.

You do not know where it is
You say with clear frustration,
A bar of soap that proves, mind you,
Our people’s extermination.

You never had a bar of soap,
You liar! Liar! Liar!
You never had a bar of soap,
You Holocaust denier!

 

 

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]]> http://frgdr.com/blog/2010/01/27/nanna-a-poem-by-shahar-golan/feed/ 0 Is This 8 Year Old Israeli Kid Giving a Nazi Salute?http://frgdr.com/blog/2009/07/01/8-year-old-israeli-nazi-salute/ http://frgdr.com/blog/2009/07/01/8-year-old-israeli-nazi-salute/#comments Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:43:05 +0000 Shahar Golan http://frgdr.com/blog/?p=2676 No.Maariv newspaper, July 1, 2009

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]]> http://frgdr.com/blog/2009/07/01/8-year-old-israeli-nazi-salute/feed/ 0 We Liberated Europe – A Poem by Shahar Golanhttp://frgdr.com/blog/2009/06/06/liberated-europe/ http://frgdr.com/blog/2009/06/06/liberated-europe/#comments Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:29:15 +0000 Shahar Golan http://frgdr.com/blog/?p=2463  

 

When Americans say
‘We liberated Europe’
I shudder and think:
My people
Were liberated
Through chimneys.

 

 

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]]> http://frgdr.com/blog/2009/06/06/liberated-europe/feed/ 0 Breaking News: Knesset Member Unable to Switch Channels on Radiohttp://frgdr.com/blog/2009/05/05/knesset-member-switch-channels-radio/ http://frgdr.com/blog/2009/05/05/knesset-member-switch-channels-radio/#comments Tue, 05 May 2009 13:25:51 +0000 Shahar Golan http://frgdr.com/blog/?p=2045

It ain’t no mystery
If it’s politics or history
The thing you gotta know is
Everything is showbiz
 
  - -- “Springtime for Hitler” from “The Producers” by Melvin Kaminsky

Knesset Member Aryeh Eldad has demanded that Israeli radio station Galgalatz stop playing the song Allein Allein (Alone, Alone) by German pop band Polarkreis 18      (Polar Circle 18), saying that the chorus is full of ‘shouting voices’ and that ‘as long as there are living Jews for whom shouting in German triggers a flashback to the time of the Holocaust in Europe, we cannot trample their feelings”.

Have a listen to find out what made the MK cringe (lyrics at the end of the post):

As a third generation Holocaust survivor myself I am eager to have a serious discussion about the subject, but a pop song is not where we should start.
Let’s start with the audacity of Israelis expressing anti-German sentiments while driving German cars and buying furniture from a former Nazi supporter.
Let’s talk about how survivors were ignored by the newly formed State of Israel and by its citizens, and let’s discuss whether these things are perpetuated to this day.
Let’s talk about Israelis captioning the Fuehrer so to make him complain about parking spaces in Tel-Aviv, let’s discuss why the two Israelis who made this thought it might be a positive outlet for their feelings, and why 90,000 Israelis wanted to watch it. Let’s discuss why the deplorable act is not making such videos but finding the nearest Holocaust survivor and forcing him to watch it.
Let’s talk about the German language and the German heritage of many of us, let’s talk about Yiddish and how we are witnessing this beautiful language die without intervening, let’s discuss why hearing a gentile uttering ‘wir sind allein‘ in German may trigger flashbacks and why a Jew saying ‘mir zaynen allein‘ in Yiddish does not have the same effect.

By all means, let’s have a serious discussion. But please, save me the fake wars about German pop songs in English. While this is a sure way of getting your name in the papers, I believe it belittles this serious subject.

 

Polarkreis 18 -- Allein Allein -- Lyrics

He’s living in a universe
A heart away
Inside of him there’s no one else
Just a heart away
The time will come to be blessed
A heart away
To celebrate his loneliness

Wir sind allein
Allein allein
Allein allein
Allein allein
Allein allein

We look into faces
Wait for a sign

Wir sind allein
Allein allein
Allein allein

A prisoner behind the walls
A heart away
Wants to lead his universe
Just a heart away
The time has come for us to love
A heart away
To celebrate our loneliness

Wir sind allein
Allein allein
Allein allein

We look into faces
Wait for a sign

Wir sind allein
Allein allein
Allein allein
Allein allein
Sind wir allein
Allein allein
Wir sind allein
Allein allein

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]]> http://frgdr.com/blog/2009/05/05/knesset-member-switch-channels-radio/feed/ 1 Obama: Our Stock Will Rise High!http://frgdr.com/blog/2009/05/03/obam-stock-rise-high/ http://frgdr.com/blog/2009/05/03/obam-stock-rise-high/#comments Sun, 03 May 2009 05:06:41 +0000 Shahar Golan http://frgdr.com/blog/?p=1995 Now, I realize the White House may have been busy with the whole FlickrGate thing these last couple of days, but can we agree posting the following photo on the official White House website was not the brightest idea?
WhiteHouse.gov Website, May 2, 2009
I’m not sure if this image offends all Jews or just this one, but after 27 months and scores of Obama photos, I think this is the first photo I have seen that does not compliment him.

P.S.
Due to recent comments left on my blog, I feel I need to explain these kind of observations:
My beef is not with Obama, as he is free to raise his hands as much as he likes.
My beef is not with White House photographer Chuck Kennedy, as he is free to take as much photos as he likes.
My beef is with the WhiteHouse.gov editor who exhibited poor judgement by posting this photo which does not flatter the president and does not convey the right sentiments towards his constituents.

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]]> http://frgdr.com/blog/2009/05/03/obam-stock-rise-high/feed/ 0 Wherever I Go Online, The Holocaust Comes With Mehttp://frgdr.com/blog/2009/04/02/online-holocaust/ http://frgdr.com/blog/2009/04/02/online-holocaust/#comments Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:05:14 +0000 Shahar Golan http://frgdr.com/blog/?p=1722 I have previously addressed IP-based advertising and how it virtually never works in a tiny country like Israel. Lately, I have been seeing a lot of Holocaust related content popping on my screen while I am on YouTube or Facebook, and it gets to be quite annoying.

Holocaust related YouTube content - March 26, 2009You see, whenever anyone visits a website, there are certain details about them that are revealed automatically: their IP address, the browser they use, their screen resolution etc. Many websites do not bother to collect this information at all, while others use it for statistic purposes. A lot of websites, like Facebook in our case, show ads relevant to the visitor’s geographical location using an IP-to-city query.
Holocaust related Facebook ad - March 26, 2009Other website giants, like YouTube, are smart enough to suggest content relevant to the visitor’s location, based on the same mentioned query. All this is good and dandy, except lately everyone and their mother hopped on the user-generated content wagon, and the result for the average Israeli surfer is a bombardment of Holocaust related material, shoved in the face of every Tomer, Dikla or Ari.

Holocaust related YouTube content - April 1, 2009Now, I would understand if YouTube somehow got a hold of a list of neo-Nazis, and wanted to mess with their heads so that every time they visit YouTube they would get non-stop Yad Vashem survivor testimonials at the ‘Featured Videos’ section. That would be awesome, and might even prove to be a positive educational experience for a bigot or two.
Holocaust related Facebook ad - March 27, 2009It’s just that I don’t understand why the unsuspecting Israeli should get the same treatment. As a third-generation Holocaust survivor, I prefer not to be lectured about it whenever I search for the latest skateboarding dog shenanigans, thank you very much.

 

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