'Nazi Collection' bedspread to be withdrawn in India

After India's Jewish community expressed objection, a home furnishing company agreed to withdraw the name "The Nazi Collection" from a new line of bedspreads on Monday.

Furnishing dealer Jagdish Todi met Jewish community leaders to assure them that the family-owned company did not intend to hurt the sentiments of Jews, said Jonathan Solomon, chairman of the Indian Jewish Federation.

Todi apologized for offending the Jewish community and said all advertising and publicity material with the name "The Nazi Collection" would be immediately destroyed and not allowed to be circulated or marketed, and the company wouldn't use the word in the future, Solomon said.

Todi could not be reached for comment but a letter signed by him read, "We wish to assure all concerned that we did not have and do not have the slightest intention of hurting the feelings and sentiments of Jews."

Todi's letter added, "We sincerely regret our action in proposing such an obnoxious name as 'Nazi Collection' for our products."

The furnishing company angered India's small Jewish community with its use of swastikas in promotional material and refusal to withdraw the name, which it insisted stood for "New Arrival Zone for India."

There are about 5,500 Jews living in India, a predominantly Hindu nation of 1.1 billion people.

Some Indians regard Hitler as just another historical figure and have little knowledge about the Holocaust, in which 6 million European Jews were systematically killed during World War II.

The swastika symbol, which was appropriated by the Nazis, was originally an ancient Hindu symbol and is displayed all over India to bring luck.

A restaurant in Mumbai last year was forced to change its name from Hitler's Cross and drop swastikas from their signs and menus after protests by the city's Jewish community.