In the article, he jokes about a family friend being thrown into a concentration camp, so...yeah, pretty much.
When you survive 9 years in a Soviet gulag you have the right to joke about such things. Times gone by.
From the wit and wisdom of Adolf Hitler:
Der Fuehrer, with a twinkle in his eye joked, “This is the place where all the people went and thought they were going to have a nice shower, but were gassed instead! Ha!” Then he looked around and no one was laughing, so he continued, “I guess you had to be there.” The next day, he made sure that they all were.