Photo: Heinrich Himmler





The Italian town of Cosenza is one with a rich and storied history, and recently, it's made an effort to appeal to both its Jewish lineage and its current Jewish residents.

In the early 16th century, the Jews of Cosenza were either exiled or forced to convert to Christianity. Today, this has served as a catalyst for the municipality's decision to advertise its Jewish ties, even restoring a building in its ancient Jewish neighborhood. Last December, the town, famous for its citron (etrog) groves and, ergo, a large supplier to Israel in the weeks leading up to Sukkot, paid a homage to its Jewish community members by decorating a pedestrian boulevard with menorahs to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

But this week, the town has damaged the pro-Jewish momentum its been heading in, after distributing brochures at the International Travel Fair of Milan depicting a portrait of none other than infamous Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler.

The new travel brochures tell a story of Cosenza's ancient history, beginning with Alar 1, king of the Germanic Visigoths. Alar 1 invaded Italy in 410 CE, and eventually discovered Cosenza, where he unexpectedly died. Legend has it that the king was buried in the town's Busenzo River, accompanied by many treasures.

Naturally, the Nazis, enthusiasts of all things Aryan, were quite interested in Cosenza, with Himmler even attempting to find Alar 1's remains, and treasure, but to no avail.

As the brochure reads, “in 1937, the year when the legend of Alar hit the highest popularity, Himmler, commander of the Nazi SS, promoted excavations [in Cosenza to find Alar’s grave], but in vain.”

The copy in the brochure offers little other details of Himmler's connection to Consenza. But in any event, the graphic designer decided to use a photo of him to dominate the brochure, simply because he was mentioned.

“We consider Himmler one of the worst criminals in history,” Mayor Mario Occhiuto told the Times of Israel. “We did not mean to send any message different than that.”

Occhiuto added that the brochures were printed and distributed before he had a chance to see them. “However, we cannot pretend that the story of Alar and its fortune did not go as it is explained in the text,” he noted.

In any event, we'd like to assume that the brochures will be reprinted with another image - though that's yet to be confirmed.