You know, we're wondering if when they write the book on the erotic themes of our age, they're gonna say this is the year that Holocaust Smut broke wide. Pretty much all that's missing right now is La Lohan announcing she's remaking The Night Porter.
But maybe we should stick to what we actually got for now. First, there's the case of Formula One Racing director Max Mosley, who's under so much pressure to resign following revelations of his 5-hour, 5-hooker, Holocaust-themed freakfest that even NPR is talking about it. And things will probably not get any better now that the News of the World won a court case allowing them to air video of the encounter on their website. (Click here to view.) The most disturbing part? The shots of a naked Mosley sharing a post-coital cuppa with the faux prison guards. (Shudder!)
Then there's the release of Stalags, a documentary about the unsettling but intriguing crop of death camp-themed pulp novels that surfaced in Israel, of all places, following the war.
Ari Libsker’s documentary “Stalags” is named for these pocket-size books, which were written under American pseudonyms in a style that suggested translation. (They were in fact done in Hebrew by Israeli writers, some of whom appear on screen.) The film examines the rise and fall of this short-lived craze and the doors it opened for discussing the Holocaust, a previously hush-hush subject in Israel.
As we mentioned before, we don't really get the erotic appeal of the Nazi, but we have to say, it's looking more and more like this is starting to be a thing, right? With Blackbook and the Günter Grass scandal within the last couple years and Valkyrie soon to come? What do you guys think? Is there now a trend towards humanizing -- even eroticizing -- the Nazis, and if so, why? Is it simply another example of the brownshirtism/Neo-Nazism that occasionally rears its ugly head? An inevitable reaction to the whole "Greatest Generation"/Saving Private Ryan interest of a few years back? Or are we maybe on the edge of rethinking something about WWII and the army that lost it? And whatever the reason -- is it good or bad?
Have at it in the comments -- and remember: this can be a touchy subject, so please play nice or ve vill be vorced to use... discipline. (Well, we'll remove any truly offensive comments, anyway.)