Concert planned at Belgrade WWII camp cancelled
A concert planned at a former World War II concentration camp in Belgrade was cancelled Saturday after protests, Beta news agency reported. British band Kosheen, which had been due to play there, issued an apology on its website. Kosheen had been due set play Saturday at the Staro Sajmiste in central Belgrade, but after complaints from the Simon Weisenthal Center and the local authorities they called it off. A statement posted on the official Kosheen website said the band had been “distressed” to learn about what the venue had been used for in the past…. “If Kosheen had known it’s true history, they would never have agreed to play the venue, and as such Kosheen have cancelled their show there,” it added. The statement went to apologise for anyone who had been upset by the plan to stage the concert there. On Friday, the Simon Wiesenthal Center called on the Serbian authorities to stop the concert, which would have taken place where “tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma and Croats were killed during the World War II.”
Uh, ‘scuse me, BUT HOW STUPID DO YOU HAVE TO BE to agree to perform at what was once a WWII concentration camp…and then to claim that you knew NOTHING about the camp’s history? Uh…looks like someone slept throught their history classes…and apparently the common sense ones as well, doesn’t it?
I love the language of the incredibly self-serving press release: If Kosheen had known it’s true history, they would never have agreed to play the venue…. Uh…what did y’all think it was, a Girl Scout camp? A country club? A WalMart? I mean, give me a break, willya? I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a band to do at least minimum of due diligence about a proposed venue, especially if it comes with a description along the lines of “former WWII concentration camp”. Anyone with anything close to a functional intellect should be able to recognize and understand that a lot of bad things are associate with “former WWII concentration camp”.
It took me about 15 seconds on Wikipedia to find an entry for Staro Sajmi‚âà¬∞te. And it doesn’t take long for an even moderately-motivated reader to find this gem:
After the April war of 1941 when Germany and its allies occupied and partitioned the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, entire Syrmia region (including the left bank of the Sava) became part of the German occupational zone, formally as a part of the Independent State of Croatia where they set the Usta‚âà¬∞e puppet regime. Nazi secret police, Gestapo, took over Sajmi‚âà¬∞te. They encircled it with several rings of barbed wire turning it into what they referred to as “collection center” - a euphemism for a prison. It eventually became an extermination camp. Until May 1942 Germans used Sajmi‚âà¬∞te concentration camp to mostly kill off Jews from Belgrade and other parts of Serbia. From April 1942 onwards, prisoners were transported in from Jasenovac and Stara Gradi‚âà¬∞ka concentration camps run by Usta‚âà¬∞e. Partisans captured throughout Serbia were also sent to Sajmi‚âà¬∞te. Detainees were also sent in from other parts of Yugoslavia, especially after major German offensives on briefly liberated territories. Executions of captured prisoners lasted as long as the camp existed.
Among others, prisoners included women, children and the elderly from Kozara region, entire Jewish families from Belgrade and other cities, Roma families, as well as entire populations of different Syrmian villages. November 1946 report released by Yugoslav State Commission for Crimes of Occupiers and their Collaborators claims that close to 100,000 prisoners came through Sajmi‚âà¬∞te’s gates. It is estimated that around 48,000 people perished inside the camp.
Hmm…all of a sudden, Kosheen’s apology rings pretty hollow, doesn’t it? It sounds more like “Oops, we got busted for doing something ignorant and insensitive, and now it’s time for some serious damage control.
This is some serious DUMB@$$ AWARD-caliber stuff, eh? Didja think that everyone was going to gather around the campfire, sing “Kum Ba Yah”, and roast s’mores just before the finale, which no doubt involves a group hug? No, either the band knew of the camp’s history and just didn’t care (or thought is was kind of cool), or they figured that no one would actually notice what they were doing. Now that their ignorance and insensitivity has been pointed out, they’re all about the apology. Frankly, I’m not buying it…and I really don’t think anyone capable of anything resembling critical thought would.
Nice try, y’all….
