Belgium town vows to retain carnival of hate
V AMAZON HAS pulled a range of “Auschwitz-themed Christmas ornaments” displaying images of the Nazi concentration camp.
Festive decorations, bottle openers and a mousepad were among items available for sale as recently as last weekend.
The Christmas ornaments featured images of rail tracks leading to the camp, as well as barbed wire fences and buildings in which prisoners were housed.
The Auschwitz Memorial said the merchandise was “disturbing and disrespectful” merchandise, and called on the online retailer to remove them.
The organisation, which preserves the site of the camp in Poland, later said the items had been removed after an angry response from social media users.
Amazon said: “All sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who do not will be subject to action, including potential removal of their account.”
V A BELGIAN town has opted to renounce its place on the UN cultural heritage list rather than restrict a carnival that depicts big-nosed Charedi Jews sitting on piles of money.
Officials in Aalst said they were weary of complaints that the event was antisemitic.
The most recent carnival in March included a float depicting Strictly Orthodox men with shtreimel fur hats, surrounded by bags of money. One of the caricatured figures has a white rat resting on its shoulder.
It was criticised at the time by Belgium’s Jewish community and the European Union, which said it conjured up visions of the 1930s.
The city’s mayor Christoph D’Haese, who has previously said it was not up to him to ban the float, said on Sunday that he planned to renounce Aalst’s recognition from Unesco, the UN’s cultural agency.
Mr D’Haese told the Flemish broadcaster VTM that his officials “have had it a bit with the grotesque complaints and Aalst will renounce its Unesco recognition. It was clear that we had to go, so we kept the honour to ourselves.”
But Hans Knoop, from the Belgian Forum of Jewish Organisations, said the mayor had not cooperated with them in talks on the issue.
He told AP that renouncing Unesco status should not make way for similar floats in the future, adding: “They are not at liberty to spew any more antisemitic dirt. We will keep a close eye on Aalst.”
But Mr D’Haese said it was “unavoidable” that Jews will be ridiculed at the next carnival, adding: “We are on a very dangerous slippery slope when people will be able to decide what can be laughed at.”
His announcement comes the week before Unesco delegates gather in Colombia for a meeting where Aalst’s place on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity was due to be discussed.
The mayor said it was unavoidable that Jews will be ridiculed