Brazilian Jewish groups say they are planning protests against plans by a samba dance school to use a float depicting the Holocaust in this weekend's Rio carnival.
The Viradouro samba school plans to feature the float when it marches in the Sambadrome parade on Sunday.
However, Sergio Niskier, president of the Israelite Federation in Rio, said that "it made no sense" to address the issue "with drums and dancing girls".
"There are still survivors of that horror who have the marks of that tragedy on their skin," he told the Reuters news agency.
The artistic director of Viradouro defended the float, saying it would have no dancers or samba performers as a sign of respect to victims.
"The float is extremely respectful, it's a warning, it's something shocking that we don't want to happen ever again," Paulo Barros, Viradouro's artistic director, told Reuters.
'Shockers' theme
The Rio Carnival is famous for parades by samba schools with colourful floats and costumes and street parties where costumed revellers drink and dance all night.
The elaborately decorated floats are a key part of each samba school's presentation, along with thousands of dancers and drummers led by near naked Carnival queens.
Viradouro's parade theme this year is "Shockers" and it also reportedly includes floats depicting the shock of birth, the shock of horror and the shock of cold.
In previous carnivals samba schools have had problems with the Catholic church over floats displaying religious references.
An estimated six million Jews perished in the Holocaust, instigated by Germany's Nazi government under Adolf Hitler, in World War II, along with hundreds of thousands of gypsies, Catholics and other groups.