Shopper Furious Over Swastika on Wrapping Paper

Last Updated on February 12, 2022

Have you heard about this one?

A shopper at Walgreens was so “appalled” when she found a swastika on wrapping paper that she demanded that the manager remove the paper from store shelves and called for all other stores to follow suit, KNBC-TV reports.

The woman, who is Jewish, spotted something most people would probably have never noticed to begin with.

The wrapping paper design featured several rows of ornamentation separated by colored lines that border a large solid color panel. The ornamentation (if you haven’t already clicked the link above), is known as meander, also called Greek Fret or Greek Key, which is an ancient form of art. The image that accompanies this post features the same kind of design.

Said to have its origins from artisans attempting to capture the path of the Maeander River in Asia Minor, according to Wikipedia, which also points out the observation of Hungarian scholar Karl Kerenyi that it is “the figure of a labyrinth in linear form.”

I point out all of this to make clear an important point: the design far predates Hitler-era Germany.

This particular design happened to contain elements of two intersecting lines that crossed. Those intersections, if one looks for it, resemble swastikas that were the symbol of Adolph Hitler’s Nazi Germany. The swastika itself dates back to the Neolithic Era, scholars believe, which dates back to about 10,000BC.

But this shopper was incensed because the wrapping paper that featured the ancient design that happened to contain a small element that resembled a swastika happened to be in the Hanukkah section.

The woman even described the situation to her rabbi, she said, who couldn’t believe it.

When The Blaze picked up the story, commenters were quick to react:

“God, it must be so miserable going through life just looking for things to be offended by.”

Then there was this one:

“Okay, but in the Hanukkah section?
I’m a believer that stuff like this never happens by accident.
Someone in purchasing thought they’d “put one over” on some unsuspecting shopper.

Yeah, the pentagram is thousands of years old too, but I don’t expect to see it in the nativity section.”

Since the Star of Bethlehem was a key element of the original nativity scene where Jesus Christ was born, some depictions of the event do involve five-pointed stars. Here’s an example. I would never look at such a display as some covert attempt to put Wiccan elements into a nativity scene.

While I suppose I can understand concern on the part of a Jewish person upon finding a swastika on wrapping paper in a Hanukkah section, I don’t for a moment understand the notion that such things couldn’t possibly happen by accident.

That’s what a coincidence is, after all.

It’s quite possible the wrapping paper was designed using clip-art-style elements and they just happened to settle on one of numerous Greek Key designs. And this one, if they weren’t paying attention, might just happen to have intersecting lines that could then be perceived to resemble a swastika.

It’s a shame we’re so quick these days to assume the worst intent of everyone around us. Such a coincidence becomes a “conspiracy to offend.”

I have to wonder how many other people might have purchased that same paper for a Hanukkah gift. And I wonder, even if they’ve heard of this controversy, how they feel about it.