Bandung, Indonesia – Authorities in central Indonesia will ask a restaurant owner to explain his reasons for opening a Nazi-themed cafe that has sparked controversy among locals and tourists, an official said Thursday.
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Soldatenkaffee includes a red wall of Nazi-related memorabilia, including a large flag with the swastika and a giant picture of Adolf Hitler. Its wait staff dresses in SS, or Schutzstaffel, military uniforms, and can be seen posing in front of the cafe on its Facebook page.
The cafe, located in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung, one of Indonesia’s tourist destination cities, has been open since April 2011. But a recent article in a local English-language newspaper has prompted angry responses from some foreigners and Indonesians on social networking sites.
Ayi Vivananda, deputy mayor of Bandung, said a letter was sent Thursday summoning cafe owner Henry Mulyana to meet with officials to discuss his motives for opening the cafe and whether his objective was to incite racial hatred.
“Those symbols are internationally recognized to represent violence and racism,” Vivananda said.
Mulyana says his objective was not to breed hatred. Instead, he said he wanted to decorate his restaurant with Nazi symbols to attract customers, both local and foreigners.
He also denied being pro-Nazi or supporting Hitler, responsible for the deaths of some 6 million Jews during World War II.
“I’m just a businessman, not a politician,” Mulyana said. “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.”
He said the recent controversy has forced him to temporarily close his restaurant. He declined to say whether he would consider changing the Nazi theme if authorities requested him to do so.
“Let’s wait and see,” he said. “I don’t want the workers here to lose their jobs.”
There is seemingly an upsurgence in the Asian continent of Nazi related themes to their boutiques and restaurants as this is perhaps the 4th story I have read all year long. Perhaps there is a force of the world that wants to see atrocities highlighted as a usual way of life for the poor people who were not oppressed just enough by the fist of hatred and bigotry. It seems that this keeps coming around. Perhaps their economic woes will be their little fist of freedom that breaks their back.
Drug dealers are not politicians either. They just want people to buy their wares. They don’t want their workers to lose their jobs either. This is a disgrace coming from a person who lives in the largest Muslim country in the world. Go and make peace with them.
Instead of sitting in front of the computer twiddling our payuss, we should ALL contact the Indonesian consulate and inform them we are cancelling our business trip and dealings there. This has actually worked both nationally & intl to kill these nazi shops, events, websites etc.
“He said the recent controversy has forced him to temporarily close his restaurant.”
If the restaurant’s theme is, as he says, a pragmatic means of attracting business, it seems to have backfired for now. And tt looks like pragmatism witll force him to change.