05 February 2008
A Rio de Janeiro judge has banned a controversial float depicting Holocaust victims and an Adolf Hitler
costume that were planned to be part of Sunday’s Carnival parade in Rio, saying the float trivialized Nazi atrocities. Carnival "cannot be used as a tool in the cult of hate or for any form of racism ... or for the banalization of barbaric events," the judge said, upholding a complaint by the city's Jewish community federation.
The “Unidos do Viradouro” samba school, one of 12 competing in the parades on Sunday and Monday, had planned to enter the float and a dancer dressed as Hitler as part of its theme protesting horrifying human actions. Its creative director, Paulo Barros, had insisted the float, which depicts skeletal figures piled on top of each other, was a "very respectful" reminder of the Holocaust and a warning that it should "never be repeated." But the Jewish Federation of Rio de Janeiro said it found the entry "inappropriate," and launched the legal action. "The float itself was disagreable but legal. But taken together with someone dressed up as Hitler close to the 'bodies' of Jews, that made it illegal," a spokesman for the federation told AFP.
To show their dismay at the judge’s decision, the Viradouro school used the float to focus on freedom of speech instead. Around 700,000 people attended Sunday’s Carnival procession in Rio de Janeiro.
