Kraków museum under fire again for Auschwitz 'game of tag' film

Acclaimed artist Artur Żmijewski's 'Game of Tag' was originally included in the 'Poland – Israel – Germany: The Experience of Auschwitz' which began on 15 May, alongside works from 16 other artists from the three pertinent countries.

However, owing to criticism from Jewish groups, the museum changed its policy of screening the exhibit on a loop, and the film was only accessible from a link to a website provided on a monitor.

Currently, a specially-constructed booth is accessible with a warning.

Among the voices to have spearheaded the new wave of complaints is Ronald S. Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC).

“We are very disappointed that a distinguished museum like the MOCAK would screen a film that causes extraordinary anguish to Auschwitz survivors and many others to whom the Holocaust is not a remote event in history but rather serves as an enduring warning about the dangers of anti-Semitism, racial hatred and xenophobia,” he reflected.

“Whatever the legality of that decision, we can only express shock that sensationalism in the guise of freedom of artistic expression should trump sensitivity and goodwill, and of all places Krakow should show some sensitivity to the feelings of survivors.”

When the initial controversy broke last month, MOCAK director Maria Potocka argued that, “both by its approach and in its activities has been endeavouring to show the highest respect for the memory of the Holocaust.”

She said that “to read this film as an insult to the victims of the concentration camps we feel is to misinterpret it.”

Żmijewski was once ranked by the American edition of Newsweek as one of the ten most important artists in the world.

However, ' Game of Tag', which was partly recorded at a former gas chamber at the once Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, has been withdrawn from several international exhibitions.

The first part of the film shows a group of people playing tag naked in an apartment. In the second part the exercise is repeated in a former gas chamber. The viewer is invited to reflect on the contrasts in behaviour shown in the two separate games. (nh)