Have a very...Nazi Christmas? Credit: YouTube
Casey Lehman thought she was getting a bargain when she bought the roll of paper at a $1 store, but instead found herself about to wrap a present with a symbol most closely associated with Nazi Germany.
"I pulled it down from the closet, and for the first time saw it and thought, 'Oh wow. That's really inappropriate'," Lehman told Orlando TV station WESH. She added, "If I had sent this out on my Christmas gifts and someone had pointed it out to me I would have been mortified. I would have been really embarrassed."
The swastika symbol has been around for a long time, and hasn't always had a bad reputation. Swastikas appear on pottery and coins as early as 3,000 years ago, in cultures as diverse as China, Germany and Greece, and it remains a sacred Hindu symbol. However, since it was adopted by Adolph Hitler during World War II, you could say it's fallen out of favor as a design element in Western culture.
The pattern on this wrapping paper, in fact, is most likely an ancient Sanskrit symbol for good luck rather than an actual swastika (a dot included in each quadrant distinguishes it from the Nazi swastika). Either way, Lehman won't be using the paper to wrap any gifts this year. She and her mother and fiancé all agree that the swastika design isn't the kind of Christmas spirit they were looking for.
The manager of Dollar Mania, where Mrs. Lehman bought the paper, denied any knowledge of the design before she brought it to his attention -- but he's definitely making sure he doesn't sell any more of the potentially-upsetting wrapping paper.
chris,11-26-2009, 4:40PM
Although I understand the attitude toward swastikas, they are an ancient symbol, and a buddhist symbol, a mandala of sorts. Hitler used such things as these as they are so powerful to a dark and evil end, but the ancient symbol has nothing to do with murder, hatred or destruction
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lildvl,11-27-2009, 11:00AM
Wow....some people need to start watching the History channel & READING some History books! The Swastika's have been around LONG before Hitler! He actually saw the symbol on a church gate in Austria and liked the look of it and decided to use it as the symbol of his new political party just as he was getting into politics! If oyu ever go abroad it is a very old church symbol...often seen in really old church's and cemetary's
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jabajax,11-28-2009, 11:08PM
"Our Navajo Indians" means the Navajo Indians of Our America, not our personally owned Indians. Get a life. Our Family doesn't mean we own the people in our family.
Our President doesn't mean we own him; but if only we could control the bum. Our allies doesn't mean we own them. This is PC gone wild. This is what happens when you outsource manufacturing overseas and don't give clear instructions and management. The same type of thing happened when Obama outsourced health care reform to Congress and didn't oversee what Pelosi and Reid were doing. Yeah; the same thing.
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Rick,11-29-2009, 10:27PM
My father was in the 45th Division of the National Guard in Oklahoma during world war two. Their divisional patch was the swastika until 1939. The 45th Division's swastika was supposed to symbolize hope and peace.
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a preventable stench,12-01-2009, 12:59PM
like most symbols nazi germany stole this from india and turned it into what most people relate it to today...the swaztika is a sanskrit character that can be found on one palm of statues of Divine Mother on the other palm, the om...not quite what most think of when they see it...
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