Dear JCK Readers:

On July 19, JCKonline.com published a post about the auction of a watch once presented to Adolf Hitler. We received numerous complaints about the piece and have since removed it from the site.

We sincerely apologize for the article, and for any distress it may have caused. Our editorial review process failed, and we deeply regret that.

To be clear: In no way does JCK profit from the story or the auction. We do not have a financial stake in how the watch performs at auction, nor do we profit from clicks on the story. We were not paid by the auction house or anyone else to run this story. The piece was picked up from legitimate news wires and ran on other news sites.

On a personal note, as a Jewish woman who fled Leningrad in the 1970s as part of the exodus of Jews from the Soviet Union, I am deeply sympathetic to the points of view expressed by commenters.

Once again, we sincerely regret the error in editorial judgment. And we will strive to do better.

Victoria Gomelsky
Editor-in-Chief, JCK and JCKonline.com