German Olympic skater sparks Twitter outrage with 'Schindler's List' routine

Nicole Schott, 21, comes 18th with performance choreographed to haunting John Williams score for Holocaust movie

A German figure skater earned the ire of Twitter Friday with an Olympic routine choreographed to the theme music to Holocaust movie, “Schindler’s List.”

Nicole Schott was slammed by social media users for her choice of music — a haunting violin theme used in the 1993 film about German factory owner Oskar Schindler who saved thousands of Jews from the Nazis.

USA TODAY sports columnist Nancy Armour wrote that, “No one should be skating to ‘Schindler’s List.'”

https://twitter.com/nrarmour/status/966862618466988032

Ariel Helwani, another sports journalist, felt it was particularly inappropriate to have a German competitor dancing to a Holocaust-themed melody.

Just tuned into Olympic figure skating and the German figure skater is skating to the theme song from … Schindler’s List. No joke. Call me crazy but that doesn’t seem right.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 23, 2018

That view was echoed by Karen Gesell, an American figure skating coach.

“No matter how it is skated and after all these years I still have a problem with a non Jewish athlete, representing Germany, skating to ‘Schindler’s List,'” she wrote.

https://twitter.com/Karen_Gesell/status/966865618191360000

Comedian Adam Sank wrote that he could find nothing to say in Schott’s defense.

In defense of the German skater who chose the theme from "Schindler's List" for her routine… yeah, I got nothing. #SchindlersList

— Adam Sank (7K) (@AdamSank) February 23, 2018

However, Schott was not the first person to skate to this tune at an international competition. The John Williams tune has proven popular with skaters for several years.

Months after the movie was released, German figure skater and two-time Olympic gold medalist Katarina Witt used it for her routine, though not in an Olympic competition.

Russian figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaya, 15, helped her team win a gold medal at 2014’s Sochi Winter Olympics with the same music.

Williams won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the tune.