Holocaust Humor

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Mourning with laughter is as Jewish as a dill pickle. Hasidic teaching says the three stages of mourning are tears, silence, and song. The Second Generation is in its final stages of mourning, says psychologist Eva Fogelman. They've gone through shock, denial, and confrontation. Now comes a search for meaning. The spate of Second Generation writing is part of that search. It is their song.

For some, though, there can only be anger. That anger turns to humor, Berger speculates. "I think it's a kind of rage that cynicism frequently masks. . . . Some of these artists may be saying, ëLook at what you bastards are making it. We're going to parody your ignorance.' " But their humor poses questions with no clear answers. Who is allowed to joke about the Holocaust? What is too vulgar? Does any kind of humor demean the death of 6 million Jews? What are we to make of things like Polish artist Zbigniew Libera, who two years ago created a Lego Auschwitz?

Even Waldoks has uncomfortable moments. At the end of the 92nd Street Y performance, an elderly man with the survivor's thick accent stands up, enraged by what he has seen. "If you used your methodology in Germany it would be horribly devastating because you're negating what happened," he says. "I think it's all wrong."

"I'd be careful about doing this act in Berlin right now," Waldoks answers.

Unappeased, the elderly man responds: "I'd be careful about doing this act in the United States."

Shai Oster lives in Beijing and works for the China Daily. From Moment (April 1999). Subscriptions: $27/yr. (6 issues) from Box 7028, Red Oak, IA 51591.

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