I blogged about all the controversey with this restaurant a few days ago. Not that you would have noticed unless you tuned in when the duelling server carrying that story was on. Anyway, I’m glad to see that he is changing the name.
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BOMBAY, India – The owner of a restaurant named after Adolf Hitler said Thursday he will change its name because it angered so many people.
small Jewish community.”Once they told me how upset they were with the name, I decided to change it,” he said. “I don’t want to do business by hurting people.”
Sablok said he had not yet decided on a new name.
Hitler’s Cross opened five days ago and serves pizza, salad and pastries in Navi Mumbai, a suburb of Bombay, also known as Mumbai.
On Thursday, Bombay’s Jewish community welcomed Sablok’s decision to rename his restaurant.
“He realized he made a mistake and listened to reason,” said Elijah Jacob, a community leader. “Some people have wrong conceptions of history and he realized it was not appropriate.”
Bombay’s Jews had called the theme of the restaurant offensive and demanded a name change. There are about 5,500 Jews in India, with about 4,500 of them living in Bombay.
“I never wanted to hurt people’s feelings,” said Sablok.
Some Indians regard Hitler as just another historical figure and have little knowledge about the Holocaust, in which 6 million European Jews were systematically killed during World War II.
The swastika symbol, which was appropriated by the Nazis, was originally an ancient Hindu symbol and it is displayed all over India to bring luck.