*dons art major glasses*
Ok, claiming "art for art's sake" because someone says it is art post facto, according to the post-modern theory of what art is, doesn't erase the fact that it's antisemitic nor support the argument because it was not created to be art. To give some examples: If a swastika is painted on the window of a Jewish bookstore (like I saw earlier this year in a neighboring city) and someone claimed it was art after the fact, it would still be antisemitic in intent and made to hurt, not to make art. Nor would be the group photos white supremacists took with the bodies of lynching victims post-mortum be art. Nor would singing racist songs at Southern political rallies during Antebellum be art.

With that said, I don't think the cosplayers took the photo with art in mind thus it was not created to be art. Thus negating the point of calling it art after the fact. They may not have meant to be antisemitic, but anyone with a brain who lives in this century could have seen the meaning of doing what they did volunteered to say "Hey, this is a bad idea. Let's not do it." But no one did and it made them complicate in consciously creating the racist image. Even if they were in the spirit of portraying the characters, it is not excusable. "I'm not racist or antisemitic, but it was only cosplay" does not excuse creating a racist act or photo. Portraying a character from an anime with historical themes may not be racist, but that doesn't make what they did not racist. Someone can also claim provocateur-ship, but that doesn't make them less racist or less of an asshole.

The Holocaust/s and other ethnic genocides are not to be taken lightly. My family is still affected by it and so are other families and peoples.