An Alabama retirement home shaped like a swastika will add on to the building to change its outline.
From above, the outline of the Wesley Acres Methodist retirement home (news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1309331,00.html) looks like the offensive Nazi symbol.
The building, which provides government-subsidized housing for low-income people, underwent $1 million in renovations with funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to hide its shape in 2001 after complaints about the swastika design by the late Democratic Sen. Howell Heflin, according to The Associated Press. The changes, however, only served to accentuate the swastika from the air.
Today the complaints are coming from Israeli-American researcher Avrahaum Segol, who also brought to the public consciousness a swastika-shaped barracks at the Coronado Naval Base in San Diego.
Ideas for modifications on the retirement home include covered porches and other inexpensive outdoor cosmetic changes.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
