The Times - UK (2022-01-26)

the times | Wednesday January 26 2022 21

News

A leading bookshop has been con-
demned by the Jewish community for
describing an antisemitic hoax text as
an “interesting book”.
Blackwell’s, the Oxford institution
that opened in 1879, advertised on its
website The Protocols of the Elders of
Zion, a racist forgery that purports to
describe a plan for Jewish world global
domination, Jewish News reported.
A synopsis of the text, originally
translated from Russian, on the website
read: “If The Protocols are a forgery,
they still form an interesting book
which deserves to be studied. If,
however. The Protocols are genuine
(which can never be proven

Antisemitic tract ‘interesting’, says bookshop

Charlie Moloney conclusively), it might cause some of us
to keep a wary eye on world affairs. We
neither support nor deny its message,
we simply make it available for those
who wish a copy.”
After coming under intense criticism,
the synopsis on the website was
changed to read: “Not all documents
that change the world are good — some
are despicable, and leave hatred and
bigotry in their wake. Such is the case
with the 1900-era antisemitic mani-
festo.”
Blackwell’s, which has 20 shops
across the country, is known as an anti-
quarian book specialist and has consist-
ently been ranked one of the world’s
best bookshops. Its founder, Sir Basil
Henry Blackwell, presided over the

family firm and was addressed as

“Gaffer”. Blackwell’s remained the

doyen of provincial bookselling during

the late 20th century.

A spokesman for the company told

The Daily Telegraph: “The description

that appeared for The Protocols of the

Elders of Zion was an automatic feed

from the publisher, not something writ-

ten or endorsed by us. With over 18 mil-

lion books on our website we are unable

to physically check each record, but

once this was brought to our attention

we replaced the description with words

that express our complete condemna-

tion of the contents of this book.”

Reacting to the listing of the item,

Marie van der Zyl, president of the

Board of Deputies of British Jews, said:

“It is astounding that a supposedly

reputable retailer would distribute a

notorious antisemitic forgery accusing

a cabal of Jews of being behind a plot to

rule the world, with a blurb on its web-

site that claims the work could be genu-

ine. This disgraceful example of Jew

hate must be removed from its online

shop and we expect a full apology.”

A spokesman for the Campaign

Against Antisemitism said: “It is bad

enough that Blackwell’s is selling the

notorious fraudulent Protocols of the

Elders of Zion. Worse, the reputable

bookseller has demonstrated grotesque

ignorance in providing a synopsis that

implies that the forgery may in fact be

genuine.

“Blackwell’s must not only remove

this antisemitic tract from sale but must

apologise for publishing such a

dangerous description and explain how

on earth it came to appear online.”

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

were the supposed minutes of a Jewish

conspiracy to take over the world.

Forged in southern Russia in about

1902, they were published in the West

after the First World War.

It is often suggested that the Proto-

cols were a key influence on Nazi

antisemitism; the historian Norman

Cohn called them a “warrant for geno-

cide”.

The Protocols has since been

removed from the Blackwell’s website.

The company has been contacted for

comment.

The advertising watchdog has banned
a series of oat milk adverts that made
misleading claims about the environ-
mental benefits of abandoning dairy
products.
More than 100 people complained to
the Advertising Standards Authority
about TV, online and newspaper adverts
by Oatly, which is based in Sweden.
One advert claimed that climate
experts said cutting dairy and meat
from our diets was the single biggest
lifestyle change people could make to
reduce their environmental impact.

I

ntimate letters

written by Giuseppe

Verdi to the

Bohemian soprano

Teresa Stolz have

been unearthed,

shedding new light on

how he came to

compose the opera Aida

for her in his old age

(Philip Willan writes).

A collection of Verdi’s

letters offered for sale

by Stolz’s heirs in 2008

was examined by Laura

Nicora, an Italian

musicologist, who offers

intriguing clues to the

relationship.

Verdi, an intensely

private man who

resented inquiries about

his personal affairs, was

married to another

opera singer, Giuseppina

Strepponi, for 38 years

and outlived her by four.

There is little doubt

that Strepponi resented

her husband’s friendship

with Stolz and expressed

her jealousy in some of

her own letters.

“God forgive you for

the very sharp and

humiliating wound that

you have caused me,”

she wrote to him in one.

But in her own letters

to Stolz, among the

more than 200 letters

examined by Nicora,

she is calm and

friendly, discussing

family and domestic

matters ranging

from fashion to

furniture. In her will

she left her a watch

decorated with

diamonds, a gold

chain and a bracelet

bearing the word

“souvenir”.

In her report on the

letters, which include

155 from Verdi, 39

from Strepponi that

were finished by

Verdi and 39 by

Strepponi alone,

Nicora wrote: “For

years there has been

too much chatter

about the real or

presumed relationship

between the great

maestro and the singer

on whether Giuseppina

knew or not, whether

she suffered in silence.”

The letters, she said,

gave an opportunity to

understand, “both from

direct words and from

what is hidden between

the lines, the real

sentiment that linked

Verdi to Stolz, which

went well beyond and

was much more

important than a

presumed sentimental

relationship.”

After Strepponi’s

death in 1897, Verdi

began to use the more

intimate “tu” form of

“you” in Italian in his

correspondence with

Stolz, sometimes writing

to her twice a day and

confiding his sufferings,

sense of solitude and

the weight of old age,

Nicora said.

Stolz was the first to

sing the title role of

Aida in Italy in 1872.

The two tried to spend

as much time as possible

together and Verdi sent

her train timetables and

organised meetings in

such a way that they

should not be disturbed.

“We will be alone! I

won’t invite either Giulio

or Boito for those days,”

he wrote in one letter. In

another: “I don’t want

Boito or anyone else to

know of your nasty

things [possibly financial

problems]. If these

should come out and

people gossip... they

won’t see me in these

places again!”

Others suggest an

emotional entanglement:

“Delicious hours but too

short... who knows

when they will return!”

And “a thousand kisses

and I say no more”.

Nicora said it was not

now known where the

letters had ended up, but

expressed the hope that

the Italian authorities

would declare the

correspondence to be of

cultural importance,

ideally keeping them in

Italy and ensuring they

were made accessible

for study.

“When we are talking

about documents that

are so precious for our

history, private property

comes after the right to

knowledge and to

memory,” she wrote.

Love letters cast light

on maestro and muse

at

e.

rs

155

fro

w

V

S

N

ye

to

ab

pre

bet

mae

onw

knew

she s

English National Opera’s

production of Verdi’s Aida

in 2017. Teresa Stolz, below

and with the composer, far

left, was the first to sing

the title role in Italy in 1872

ROBBIE JACK, DE AGOSTINI/GETTY IMAGES

Oat milk adverts misled public on benefits of ditching dairy

However, Oatly could only demon-

strate that one climate expert — a food

sustainability researcher from the

University of Oxford — had made this

claim, and he had qualified it with the

word “probably”, which was omitted

from the advert. The watchdog con-

cluded that the claim was misleading.

In another advert Oatly had claimed

that 26 per cent of greenhouse gases

were generated by the food industry

and that the meat and dairy industries

accounted for more than half of that.

The company had failed to make

clear that the food industry generated

only 26 per cent of human-created

emissions rather than 26 per cent of all

emissions. Many emissions come from

natural sources. Oatly had also includ-

ed emissions from fishing and egg pro-

duction in the meat and dairy category.

The watchdog said consumers were un-

likely to consider these two forms of

food production as meat and dairy, so

the claim was misleading.

The watchdog also concluded that

Oatly had misled consumers by claim-

ing that its products generated 73 per

cent less carbon than cows’ milk when

in fact the company had compared only

its “barista edition” with whole milk.

Oatly made another false compari-

son when it claimed the dairy and meat

industries emitted more carbon than all

the world’s planes, trains, cars and boats

combined. It was ordered not to show

the adverts again. However, the watch-

dog did not rule against Oatly’s claim

that if everyone adopted a vegan diet,

annual greenhouse emissions from

food would be by 49 per cent.

In a statement, the watchdog said:

“We told Oatly UK Ltd to ensure that

the basis of any environmental claim

was made clear, including what parts of

the life cycle had been included and

which excluded. We also told them to

ensure they held adequate evidence to

substantiate environmental claims

made in their ads as they would be

understood by consumers.”

Andrew Ellson
Consumer Affairs Correspondent

The series of adverts by Oatly were the

subject of more than 100 complaints