Censorship or sensibility?

An Argentinian newspaper has apologized for printing a comic strip poking fun at the Holocaust.

Buenos Aires daily Pagina 12 “regrets having caused anxiety and pain and apologizes to all who may have been affected,” the paper’s editors wrote last week.

Days earlier, the paper had published a comic strip entitled “The Adventure of David Ghetto, The Concentration Camp DJ at a Party.” In the strip, created by artist Gustavo Sala, David Ghetto – apparently a play on the name of French-Jewish DJ David Guetta – speaks with Hitler, who asks that the DJ calm the camp’s inmates “so that the soap comes out better.”

Jewish groups including Buenos Aires’ Asociation Mutual Israelita Argentina complained about the comic strip, saying it showed a “lack of respect” and represented a “trivialization” of the Holocaust.

Argentinean media have not reported whether Pagina 12 took any action against Sala, but a group of 140 illustrators and writers came to his defense, saying the drawings “expose the evils” of the genocide via “satire” and “grotesque” imagery. The group described complaints against the comic strip as “harassment” and “censorship.”