Hitler Restaurant Renamed the Cross Cafe (India)

[sabra]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6045844,00.html

Hitler Restaurant Renamed the Cross Cafe

MUMBAI, India (AP) - A restaurant named Hitler's Cross Cafe that enraged India's small Jewish community has been renamed The Cross Cafe, its owner said Tuesday.

Puneet Sablok said Nazi swastikas that adorned signs advertising the eatery and its menus would be removed and the new name would appear on billboards and the menu.

The restaurant opened Aug. 18, quickly drawing the ire of India's small Jewish community and Jewish leaders met with Sablok to demand that the name be changed. There are about 5,500 Jews in India and about 4,500 live in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay.

``When I had a meeting with the Jewish people and they told me about how the name hurt them, I decided to change it,'' said Sablok, whose restaurant is in Navi Mumbai, a suburb of Mumbai. ``I never wanted to hurt anyone and do business.''

[dipsydoodle]

1. I guess the menu

will be a bit restricted anyway. That's a Hindu province so forget beef. The Jewish and Muslim customers won't want pork so that leaves lamb and chicken. Guess it will be a lamb kebab and curry restaurant. :)

I'd already read the news that the name had been changed - nice to see common sense prevail just for a change.

[Warpy]

2. The swastika is an ancient design motif and very prevalent

throughout both the middle east and India. Nobody can have much of a problem with a restaurant there using it, not if they know the history of the symbol.

However, naming a restaurant after one of the top ten monsters of recorded history---what the hell was he thinking?

I'm glad people talked him into deleting Hitler. The only thing Hitler's name belongs on is a poisoned wasteland.

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Some info

"The swastika is an ancient design motif and very prevalent throughout both the middle east and India. Nobody can have much of a problem with a restaurant there using it, not if they know the history of the symbol."

While true, the symbol he used was the same one used by the Nazis. I saw a pic of the restaurant and it was the Nazi version, complete with red background and white circle.

I am glad he changed it too. According to the article, many in India know little about Hitler, and rather just see him as a "historical figure."

[PurityOfEssence]

4. Exactly. Symbols, words and concepts change with time.

'Twas a time when the word "gay" meant lighthearted and joyous. That's over; it now means homosexual. It's an oddity of history and social development, but that's the way it is.

The Swastika will forevermore be a symbol of nazism: hatred of jews, subjugation of non-white people, love of corporate monarchy, the destruction of anyone physically or mentally challenged and the proclaimed right to dominate all of these inferiors that can't be killed outright.

People hide behind nuance and semantics to be able to practice their varied sorts of racism and ugliness. They play both sides of the street while feigning innocence and quibbling with definitions. Fuck the owner of this restaurant; if he's not an extreme asshole, he's a fool and a tool. Oh, and when you're in the restroom, you may not want to use the soap.