B EAST Magazine website

By Joel Alas

An art exhibition that compared Israeli soldiers to Nazis was closed this week after protesters trashed the gallery in Prague.

The exhibition, created by controversial Polish artist Peter Fuss, featured wall-sized images of Nazi soldiers with the Star of David superimposed on their uniforms.

Fuss said the exhibition compared the tactics of current-day Israel against Palestine with the actions of Nazi soldiers.

The exhibition opened on April 21 at Nod Gallery, a well-visited independent gallery in Prague’s Old Town. Half an hour after the opening, protesters stormed the gallery and tore the posters from the walls.

Members of the Jewish community decried the exhibition as antisemetic and provocative, particularly as the building that houses Nod Gallery is owned by Jews.

Fuss said he was not antisemetic, and said it was disappointing that criticism of Israeli military actions were constantly silenced using such a claim.

“There are places where the Star of David equals Swastika,” Fuss said, “It is difficult to understand or accept the fact that the Jewish nation that was so severely experienced by Nazis today uses similar methods.”

He said the exhibition was in response to the Israel-Palestine conflict of late December 2008. Israel’s bombardment of Palestinian territories, code-named Operation Cast Lead, killed an estimated 1400 fighters and civilians, including hundreds of women and children. On the Israeli side, 17 soldiers were reported killed.

Fuss used black-and-white stills from two films, Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, as the basis for his digitally-altered images.

As his name suggests, Fuss is no stranger to controversy. He uses his moniker to conceal his identity, a tactic taken after he incited the rage of Polish Catholics by creating an exhibition of kitschy statues of Pope John Paul II.

In fact, one of his previous art actions was in protest of anti-semetic statements by a Polish Catholic leader.

“I loathe anti-Semitism as much as any other manifestation of racism, but far too often in public debate the criticism of Jewish politics is suppressed under the disguise of an antisemetic fight,” Fuss said.

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