Travelogue feature wall which includes Auschwitz ‘tasteless’, ADC says
Horrified Tasmanian Jews alerted a top civil rights group when they spied a concerning detail in a luxury home for sale. But the owner says it’s not what you think.
Launceston
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A feature wall in a high-end Tasmanian residence, which has just hit the market, that includes the word ‘Auschwitz’ – the Nazi death-camp where 1.1 million Jews were exterminated in World War II – is “bizarre and tasteless”, says the chairman of a Jewish-Australian civil rights group.
However, the owner of the Launceston house expressed horror at the misunderstanding, as she revealed the personal and innocuous reason the name was included among dozens of other countries, cities and notable locations on the kitchen’s feature wall.
The Mercury has chosen not to identify the address or suburb of the three-bedroom house.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, the chairman of the Melbourne-based Anti-Defamation Commission, said his organisation was alerted to the feature wall, a picture of which was included on the initial listing but has since been removed, by a member of Launceston’s Jewish community who was looking at real estate.
“While I don’t know what is in the heart of these homeowners, and though there isn’t a single way to commemorate the Holocaust, I am certain that there would be survivors who would find this tasteless and a gross trivialisation of the Holocaust,” Dr Abramovich said.
“Many would argue that Auschwitz, the largest cemetery in human history and a site of indescribable atrocities, where more than 1.1 million men, women and children were gassed, should not be part of a kitchen decor.
“And when you consider that prisoners starved to death in this hell-on-earth extermination camp, positioning the name Auschwitz in a place where food is prepared is particularly bizarre and eerie.
“Surely, there are more appropriate ways to respect the memory of the dead, and those who lost children and parents at this ‘killing factory’ would feel that featuring Auschwitz as part of a travelogue design, alongside Amsterdam and Monaco, cheapens their horrors and suffering.
“I have long maintained that a visit to Auschwitz should serve as an opportunity for sombre reflection, and perhaps these individuals will do some soul-searching on this issue and remove Auschwitz from the wall before the property is sold.”
The homeowner, meanwhile, said she did find Auschwitz a place of sombre reflection when she and her husband visited – that’s why it is on the feature wall.
“It’s been included (because all the names on the walls) are places my husband and I visited in our travels, it’s literally just a reminder for us from over many years,” the homeowner said. “The day we spent there was very traumatic, it was a very emotional day and we’re very glad we went and saw it.
“I certainly suggest anybody visiting Poland to go and do the same, my heart goes out to all those people and I am hopeful that it never happens again.”
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