by thurnandtaxis » Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:42 pm
<!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/2653/42002710hitlerscross203bdc5.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/6434/42002704hitlerposter220breutersyy1.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br><br>A nausea inducing news item illustrating how commercial capitalism turns history into pop culture, eating itself without irony or indigestion.<br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=DHWXWVNMNOPWYCRBAEKSFEY?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=13246340">go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=DHWXWVNMNOPWYCRBAEKSFEY?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=13246340</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br><br><br>It's Like If "The Producers" Opened An Eatery<br>Mon Aug 21, 2006 08:43 AM <br>By Krittivas Mukherjee<br><br>MUMBAI (Reuters) - A new restaurant in India's financial hub, named after Adolf Hitler and promoted with posters showing the German leader and Nazi swastikas, has infuriated the country's small Jewish community.<br><br>'Hitler's Cross', which opened last week, serves up a wide range of continental fare and a big helping of controversy, thanks to a name the owners say they chose to stand out among hundreds of Mumbai eateries.<br><br>"We wanted to be different. This is one name that will stay in people's minds," owner Punit Shablok told Reuters.<br><br>"We are not promoting Hitler. But we want to tell people we are different in the way he was different."<br><br>But India's remaining Jews -- most migrated to Israel and the West over the years -- say they are outraged by the gimmick.<br><br>"This signifies a severe lack of awareness of the agony of millions of Jews caused by one man," said Jonathan Solomon, chairman of the Indian Jewish Federation, the community's umbrella organization.<br><br>"We are going to stop this deification of Hitler," he said without elaborating.<br><br>The small restaurant, its interior done out in the Nazi colors of red, white and black, also has a lounge for smoking the exotic Indian water pipe or "hookah."<br><br>Posters line the road leading up to it, featuring a red swastika carved in the name of the eatery. One slogan reads: "From Small Bites to Mega Joys."<br><br>A huge portrait of a stern-looking Fuehrer greets visitors at the door. The cross in the restaurant's name refers to the swastika that symbolized the Nazi regime.<br><br>"This place is not about wars or crimes, but where people come to relax and enjoy a meal," said restaurant manager Fatima Kabani, adding that they were planning to turn the eatery's name into a brand with more branches in Mumbai.<br><br>The swastika has its roots in ancient Indian Hindu tradition and remains a sacred symbol for Hindus. Nazi theorists appropriated it to bolster their central hypothesis of the Aryan origins of the German people. <br><br><br><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--><br><br>"We are not promoting Hitler. But we want to tell people we are different in the way he was different."<br><br>WTF does that mean?!? <p></p><i></i>