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Holocaust Float Incites Lawsuit

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The Associated Press

Published: January 30, 2008

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - A Jewish organization is threatening a lawsuit to stop a carnival group from parading Sunday with a float that invokes the Holocaust with a mound of mannequins as an example of something that "gives you goose bumps."

Eliane Lorca, spokeswoman for the Viradouro samba group, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Jewish Federation of Rio de Janeiro had sent a letter of protest. Lorca would not say whether the samba group would back down and refused to show the unfinished float to journalists.

The float is one of eight the group has been building for its 80-minute parade. Other Viradouro floats will portray cold, fear and birth as causes of goose bumps.

Viradouro said the Holocaust float would show a mound of mannequins and have no dancers or samba performers, in respect to the victims of Nazi slaughter. The Jewish group said even without dancers the float would be offensive.
Jewish Federation President Sergio Niskier said he objected months ago when Viradouro consulted him and was surprised when the group announced Monday that it would include the float in its parade.

"Good intentions aren't enough," Niskier wrote on his federation's Web site. "Our concern and our arguments haven't changed."

With only days left before the parade, Niskier appealed to Viradouro not to use the float out of "respect for the dead, for their families and for history," and said the federation might sue under a Brazilian law the Roman Catholic Church has invoked to pressure carnival groups to change their floats.

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