This column has explored ”theme restaurants” where the waiters wear condoms on their heads and ones where customers are seated on toilets. Judged against these standards, a restaurant decorated with Nazi memorabilia sounds comparatively tame.
Nevertheless authorities in central Indonesia are investigating the raison d’etre for the design scheme at Soldatenkaffee.
According to the Associated Press, this includes
a large flag with the swastika and a giant picture of Adolf Hitler. Its wait staff dresses in SS, or Schutzstaffel, military uniforms.
Ayi Vivananda, deputy mayor of Bandung, sent a letter to Henry Mulyana, owner of the two-year-old establishment, asking him to meet with officials to explain why he chose such an insensitive theme for his restaurant.
Mulyana replied to the press:
I’m just a businessman, not a politician. I have a right to design my restaurant with anything that attracts people to come. I’m sure that I’m not violating any laws.
His objective, Mulyana adds, was not to breed hatred but rather “to attract customers, both local and foreigners.” He didn’t specify which foreigners he thought would appreciate a pro-Nazi theme. Neither the American Nazi Party nor Helen Thomas could not be reached for comment.
He also denied being an admirer of Adolf Hitler, the man responsible for the deaths of some 6 million Jews during World War II.
Related Articles
- Nutcase who lost custody of son he named Adolf Hitler to name daughter Eva Braun
- More of the world’s weirdest restaurants
- Paris art exhibit glorifies Palestinian suicide bombers (Photos)
- NYC exhibit features works painted with artist’s own blood (Video)
- Artwork using artist’s sperm banned as potential health hazard
- ‘Piss Christ’ returns to New York along with ‘Piss Moses’ (Video)
- German museum’s ‘Jew in the box’ exhibit stirs passions
- The planet’s most interesting theme restaurants—Part 2
- The planet’s most interesting theme restaurants—Part 1
- Expecting the unexpected: New York’s most unusual restaurants
- Christian Century editor blogs with virulent anti-Semites