Stay Classy, Kiev: Jews Seethe as Holocaust Remembered in Glib Cabaret

Organizers of "the Holocaust Cabaret" have extended their apologies to those who were insulted by the signboard of their play, which has been installed on the side of a concert hall near a synagogue in central Kiev.

On Tuesday, Jewish community leaders in Ukraine expressed their indignation about the installation of a signboard advertising a so-called "Holocaust Cabaret" on a Kiev concert hall, eventually forcing the organizers to dismantle the sign.

The premiere of the play based on Canadian playwright Jonathan Garfinkel's "The Trials of John Demjanjuk: A Holocaust Cabaret" is scheduled to take place April 28 on the stage of the Kiev concert-hall Bel'etage.

"We offer our deepest apologies to all those who were offended by the name of the performance and the installation of the relevant signboard in front of the synagogue in Kiev. We officially declare that the play is not a provocation and not a deliberate way to spark any conflicts. The title of the play was chosen by the author, a Canadian playwright of Jewish origin, Jonathan Garfinkel," the organizers said in a statement published on their Facebook page.

"We would very much like people to judge not by the name and the sign, but by the play itself and the important issues that it touches upon," the statement reads.

Ukrainian Jews outraged over ‘Holocaust Cabaret’ in Kiev https://t.co/vTUI8j3AKZ

— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) 25 апреля 2017 г.

The Trials of John Demjanjuk: A Holocaust Cabaret was earlier performed in Germany, Canada and America, prompting mixed feelings among viewers and critics.

The play is based on the real trial of an ex-US citizen of Ukrainian origin, Ivan (John) Demjanjuk, who was found guilty of war crimes which he committed while guarding several Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

According to the organizers of the play, it "reconsiders the entire 20th century with its catastrophes, tragedies, moral paradoxes, limits and lawlessness that people dealt with."

As for the ill-famed signboard, it was installed on the Bel'etage concert hall on a day set aside for paying tribute to the six million Jews who lost their lives in the Nazi holocaust.

Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Reuven Azman, for his part, also recalled that "this horrendous signboard was installed on the Holocaust Remembrance Day in a city" where the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial is due to be created.

Babi Yar, a ravine near Kiev, was the scene of possibly the largest mass-shooting of Jews during the Holocaust in World War II.

Later on, Azman said that the sign was dismantled, thanking "all the indifferent people and state structures" for their "instant reaction."

Albert Feldman, head of the Golda Meir Ukraine-Israel Institute of Strategic Studies, also voiced outrage over the upcoming performance in Kiev.

"How can you combine the most severe mass murders in history and the word 'cabaret' in one phrase? Given that a cabaret means an entertaining institution with a certain artistic program, which consists of light songs, sketch shows, dances and so on. So the play is nothing but humor atop the bones of murdered Jews," he wrote on his Facebook page.

"Rabbi Azman promised that Ukraine's Jewish community will try to make Ukrainian authorities ban the play. In my opinion, these are the internal affairs of individual cultural groups. We should show tolerance toward what is happening behind the closed doors. Thus far, the authorities have been keeping mum on the matter," he said.

Meanwhile, the agency that deals with selling the tickets told RIA Novosti that sales are under way.

Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!