Let's F***ing Dance!': Argentine Paper Apologizes for Comic of Hitler Mocking Jews About to Be Turned Into Soap

Certain subjects are so inappropriate as a subject for comedy, it’s a wonder any comedian or artist would see fit to take them on.

One would hope the suffering of Jews about to be exterminated in Nazi concentration camps would be one of those. Apparently not so for one Argentine comic strip artist, who is now facing complaints from fellow citizens of the Latin American country.

According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA):

The cartoon, by Gustavo Sala, depicts a DJ performing at a concentration camp and Hitler instructing inmates to "have fun because life is short."

In a play on the name of a famous French DJ David Guetta, here is the controversial strip about "David Gueto, Concentration Camp DJ:"

In the first panel, DJ David shouts: “Let’s f***ing dance! Party! Party!” To which the prisoners reply they have nothing to celebrate because they are going to be exterminated in mass.

None other than Señor Hitler enters in the third panel, telling the inmates in striped garb that a little fun can’t hurt, adding "have fun, because life is short."

In the fourth and final panel, while the inmates dance wildly, Hitler thanks the DJ and quips, “If they are relaxed then the soap comes out much better.”

According to JTA:

Guillermo Borger, president of AMIA, Argentina's main Jewish community organization, called the cartoon a "provocation."

"As a son of Holocaust survivors, I will fight against this type of shameful provocation until the final consequence," Borger said.

Just a day after publishing the anti-Semitic strip, the newspaper issued an apology on Friday.  A statement from Pagina 12 said it “"regrets the pain and distress caused" by the cartoon. It's doubtful the editors or artist were aware that Friday January 20th was the 70th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference outside Berlin, when the Nazi regime decided on the systematic extermination of European Jews or that this coming Friday marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The flippant use of Holocaust imagery around the world is not unprecedented. Most recently, a Dubai gym was criticized for touting a concentration camp weight loss program, replete with Auschwitz train tracks in its advertisement. In November, the Anti-Defamation League asked an Indian television station to consider changing the name of a soap opera, “Hitler Didi,” or “Auntie Hitler.”