German Figure Skater Competes to Music from Schindler's List — and Twitter Has Feelings
Germany’s Nicole Schott competed in the ladie’s figure skating free skate at the Winter Olympics Friday morning in South Korea (Thursday evening stateside) — and her musical selection raised more than a few eyebrows on social media.
The 21-year-old skated to the score from Schindler’s List — Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning 1993 film depicting German-occupied Poland during World War II, and attempts to save those persecuted during the Holocaust — and the choice immediately caught the attention of Twitter users.
Other social media users had similar shocked reactions.
Next up from Germany and skating to "Schindler's List"
Oh boy *logs into twitter*#Olympics— JeshaDevonne (@JeshaDevonne) February 23, 2018
Okay, so my take on this is again about emotional resonance.
You skate to Schindler’s List, you have to grapple with the fact that people have preexisting emotions.— Courtney!!! Milan ???? (@courtneymilan) February 23, 2018
Maybe don't skate to the theme from Schindler's List if you're from Germany. It's just a little bit #Awkward. #Olympics https://t.co/VgVlBfgfY6
— Ann Dystopian Fan (@AnnDystopianFan) February 23, 2018
As someone who has a master's in holocaust studies, I'm unsure how I feel about a German skater using Schindler's List
— Jon Panofsky (@jonp713) February 23, 2018
A German figure skater using a song from Schindler's List feels like something that should have been caught by one of the first 55,000 people it would have had to go through to get here.
— Scott Harris (@ScottHarrisMMA) February 23, 2018
first of all, nobody should skate to schindler's list. second of all, some people REALLY shouldn't skate to schindler's list.
— Hannah ???? (@fromtexarkana) February 23, 2018
Schott opened up about her musical selection to Golden Skate last year.
“I think it was a good choice for me,” she said. “This kind of sad music is my strength. I am not someone who could skate to Don Quixote. Schindler’s List is one of my favorite pieces of music.”
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Other social media users pointed out that skating to music from Schindler’s List is actually somewhat common. Yulia Lipnitskaya’s free skate to the music won her gold at the 2014 Olympics as Sochi — although she also faced criticism for the choice.
It is surprisingly somewhat common in the sport to use music from Schindler's list. https://t.co/KOHMUJv2II
— Andrew (@Andrew11752) February 23, 2018
While some users simply slammed Schott for the selection, others critiqued it while noting that she surely did not mean to stir controversy.
“The music score of Schindler’s List is beautiful. I’d like to know why Nicole Schott of Germany chose to skate to it,” wrote one user. “I seriously doubt that she intended any offense.”
