Heil Santa

So, a chain of stores had to destroy its entire inventory of a certain Santa Claus figurine because people thought it looked like Santa was giving the Nazi salute. Do I even have to tell you which country this happened in? Of course not.

Josef Lange, a spokesman for the Rossmann chain that has 1,200 outlets, told Reuters Friday the figures depicting Father Christmas with his right arm stiffly upright toward the sky and holding a sack in his left hand upset some customers.

"We were astonished by the reaction," Lange said. "It looks like he's just pointing up to the sky and we were surprised that anyone saw the so-called 'Hitler salute' in that. But we responded and had the entire inventory removed and destroyed."

People tend to be somewhat sensitive to something like that in your part of the world, Josef, so I don't see why you'd be "astonished" by people taking offense.

What's up with all the Nazi stuff this Christmas, anyway?