Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Aw, How Cute: It's Baby Hitler


A couple of years ago we noted the story of some knuckle-dragging clown in New Jersey who named his kid Hitler. Now some woman in Denmark decided it would be "artistic" to dress her kid up as the psychotic mass murderer. How special.
While most mothers dress their baby daughters in frilly dresses, a Danish-Norwegian artist dressed hers up as Baby Hitler.

Nina Maria Kleivan created a photo essay on evil doers, dolling her daughter up as despicable despots ranging from Adolf Hitler to Benito Mussolini.

"We all have evil within us. Even small children are evil towards each other," Kleivan told the Haaretz newspaper in Israel.

"Even my daughter could end up ruling Denmark with an iron fist," said Kleivan, whose daughter, Faustina, is now 11 years old.

The controversial photo-series, titled "Potency," has been exhibited in Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Germany.
Hitler isn't the only one in the series.
In the photo series, baby Faustina also portrays Joseph Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Ayatollah Khomeini, Chairman Mao Zedong, Idi Amin, Augusto Pinochet and Slobodan Milosevic.
It can't be long until some libs suggest she dress the kid up as Bush or Cheney.

More at Haaretz, including other photos. Kleivan's father was a captive of the Germans during World War II and she has a resentment toward the Germans, for obvious reasons, but I think this is a bit over the top.
Kleivan's art brims with references to World War II, often incorporating power and powerlessness, victims and culprits, innocence and guilt. Even so, none of her works have caused as much stir as this, and it's all because of one particular image.

"Nobody reacts to any picture other than the one of 'mini-Hitler'. Even though my generation doesn't speak out about the war, silently our cultural circle sees Hitler as evil incarnate."

But the reactions have been far from silent in Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Germany, where the exhibition has been shown. Especially when Kleivan's Jewish aunt stumbled across the exhibit in an art gallery in Sweden.

"Most of her family disappeared in the German camps, I felt so bad telling her it was my work, because she didn't know, and was sickened by it. But this is not a deliberate provocation, it calls for reflection. Even though comical, you're not supposed to only laugh at these pictures. You need to contemplate them, ponder where this evil comes from."
The left will probably be really upset to see her goofing on their hero Uncle Joe Stalin. The rest of the photos are in a slideshow at the Haaretz link.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

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