This Holocaust-Themed Routine Is Not Ok

Tatiana Navka, wife of Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, performed a bizarre Holocaust-themed ice skating routine with partner Andrew Burkovsjy on a Russian television show.

The performance began with the pair miming being shot while wearing the outfits of death camp prisoners, emblazoned with the Star of David and all.

Navka is a two-time world champion ice skater and even took home the gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Throughout the performance, the duo performed spins, twirls, and jumps found in typical figure skating performances, all while smiling in their prison camp outfits.

Navka claims that the performance was based on the Italian Oscar-winning film Life is Beautiful, which depicted a man trying to keep his child happy during the Holocaust to distract him from the tragedies around him.

For as controversial as the performance sounds, this is the second time a competition-based Russian show has incorporated themes from the Holocaust. Earlier this year, a Dancing With the Stars-type show featured a routine with an SS Gaurd trying to find a young Jewish girl.

The response from people online has been varied, with some expressing outrage and others supporting the bold choice for a passionate performance.

Alla Gerber, President of the Russian Holocaust Foundation, understands the complicated situation. Gerber says, “I wouldn’t just say straight away – ‘ah this is so awful. The Holocaust is not only annihilation . It is a colossal resistance, resistance of spirit, resistance of human qualities, resistance of human dignity.”

Performing a Holocaust-themed routine while smiling seems like a contradictory concept, but Gerber wants to remind people it’s not inherently disrespectful “because even in the most horrendous conditions people continued to live until their last breath. The wrote, they sang, they loved.”

What do you think about the performance? Let us know in the comments if the performance was disrespectful or if it honors the tragedy.

[H/T DailyMail]