Melrbourne, Victoria, Australia, Friday, December
10, 2004
David
Irving comments: I HAVE BEEN SENT this item by scores of
readers of the website, and tried to
ignore it, though not without a malicious
chuckle that this should happen in John
Howard's Australia of all politically
correct places. Now I surrender to
Schadenfreude, and here it is. A floral tribute to
Adolf Hitler, offered by some anonymous
Australian gardener. However much we
disapprove of the sentiment, and of course
we MUST, we cannot
help admiring his flower-arranging
skills. Below:
The real thing -- | Plants sow seeds
of hateBy Fiona Hudson, city editor A FLORAL foul-up has left a city
street lined with swastika shapes in a week of
major Jewish celebrations. Gardeners hired by Melbourne City Council
intended to arrange the purple and white pot plants
into neat geometric shapes. But they left six 3m garden beds along Swanston
St displaying large Nazi symbols. Jewish community representatives were appalled
last night by the timing of the blunder. City venues including Federation Square are
hosting hundreds of Jews this week to celebrate the
eight-day Hanukkah festival. The council sent hired green thumbs to rearrange
the six offending garden beds last night, about an
hour after Herald Sun inquiries. "The arrangements, even if
done inadvertently, are in appalling taste,"
Lord Mayor John So said. "I have asked that
they be changed immediately." Vandals were initially believed to have
rearranged the plants as a racist slur. But closer
investigation showed gardeners had inadvertently
used the pattern. Jewish-born councillor Carl Jetter at
first said he was appalled by the arrangements,
which he thought were vandalism. "It's sad and it's unnecessary. It makes us, as
an international destination, more uncomfortable,"
he said. "I disagree with and don't want to see any
racist activity in our city." When told the swastikas appeared to be
unintentional, Cr Jetter dismissed concerns. "It just sounds like an accident," he said. A spokeswoman for deputy mayor Gary
Singer, who is also Jewish, declined to make a
comment. Holocaust Museum president Shmuel
Rosenkranz described the flower fiasco as
offensive to most Melburnians. "Any swastika anywhere would be of offence to
anybody who lived through the Hitler era," he
said.
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