AUSCHWITZ IMAGES FEATURED ON CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS — A reader contacted me Monday to make sure that I knew about this. Our national wire service JTA supplied this story:
Amazon has come under fire for selling Christmas ornaments and bottle openers featuring images of the site of Auschwitz.
The products were removed from the Amazon website hours after a request by the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum on Sunday morning.
“Selling ‘Christmas ornaments’ with images of Auschwitz does not seem appropriate. Auschwitz on a bottle opener is rather disturbing and disrespectful. We ask @amazon to remove the items of those suppliers,” the museum at the former Nazi death camp said.
The Auschwitz ornaments included the iconic image of train tracks leading to the camp’s entrance and an image of reconstructed barracks with a path down the middle.
Among the other Polish landmarks featured on the porcelain Christmas ornaments are Wawel Castle in Krakow, Centennial Hall in Wroclaw and the riverfront of the city of Gdansk.
HANNUKAH AND HALLMARK MOVIES — I’m a big fan of Hallmark movies and I was very excited to learn the king of shmaltzy, happily-ever-after-made-for-TV-movies is premiering Hanukkah-themed movies soon. It turns out many people believe these are not Hanukkah themed and are simply Christmas movies with a little bit of Hanukkah thrown in. Needless to say, many Jewish people are unhappy. One reader sent me a column published in the Washington Post on Dec. 2 that perceives these movies as anti-Semitic. The article’s subhead reads: “These holiday specials are really Christmas movies with Jewish characters, and they draw on old, dangerous tropes.” Another reader airs his thoughts in our letters to the editor page. Bottom line: You’ll have to decide what you think if you choose to watch them.
JEWISH AUTHOR TO SPEAK AT NATIONAL WWI MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL — At 6:30 p.m. tonight, Thursday, Dec. 5, decorated Marine and National Book Award finalist Elliot Ackerman joins Museum and Memorial President and CEO Matthew Naylor for a discussion on the author’s new book, “Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning.” Ackerman’s memoir poignantly addresses the nature of combat and the human costs of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, while considering their connections to previous conflicts including Vietnam and World War I. The event is presented in partnership with Rainy Day Books and the National Archives at Kansas City. A book signing will occur before and after the event, with book purchase required to attend. Individuals interested in attending can RSVP at rainydaybooks.com.
If you miss the event because of the late notice, the program will be available online on the Museum’s YouTube channel afterward (it’s free to access).
Corrections
The time published in the Nov. 28 edition for the live streaming of “The Inner Light of Hanukah: A Celebration of Practice and Learning” taking place at Congregation Ohev Sholom on Sunday, Dec. 8, was incorrect. The correct time is 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. For more information, contact Ohev Sholom at 913-642-6460.