Regina Sluszny (80), chairman of the Forum of Jewish Organizations, could barely breathe when she saw the caricatures come by last year. “Rats, cash boxes, diamonds, those are the caricatures that the Germans used to destroy the Jews.” She lodged the deciding complaint.
The week before the carnival, Sluszny is at a primary school in Aalst to tell children about the time she was in hiding in the Second World War. Although she speaks at many schools in Belgium, it is no coincidence that she is at the school in Aalst this week. She had received an email in which a mother invited her because her daughter had asked if “we are angry with the Jews now, or whether it is the Jews who are angry with us”.
According to Sluszny that is the problem. “It’s the kids who see the caricatures during the carnival and don’t understand.”
Conversation of the day
Back at the site where the cars are tinkered all year round, the fuss of last year is still the talk of the day. There is fear among the groups about getting the same fuss as last year.
“The carnival will try not to be offensive, but it will not contain itself,” says Guy Walgraef, the site manager. “An Aalstener is an anarchist. We want to celebrate our party as we do all years.”
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