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 News from Around the Americas | August 2006 
Bombay Restaurant Owner Agrees to Change Name of His Hitler's Cross Eatery
 AP
| | This restaurant serves pizza, salad and pastries. The swastika, which was appropriated by the Nazis, was originally an ancient Hindu symbol for good luck and can still be seen throughout India. |
Mumbai, India — The owner of a restaurant named after Adolf Hitler said Thursday he will change its name because it angered so many people.
Puneet Sablok said he would remove Hitler's name and the Nazi swastika from billboards and the menu. He had said the restaurant's name — "Hitler's Cross" — and symbols were only meant to attract attention.
Sablok made the decision after meeting with members of Mumbai's 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 Mumbai, the city formerly known as Bombay until 1995.
On Thursday, Mumbai'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."
Mumbai'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 Mumbai.
"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.
| • R E A D E R S ' C O M M E N T S •
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To downplay the Jewish Holocaust by the Nazi forces is unethical and wrong. However, to monopolize this tragedy by equating it solely with the loss of Jewish life is also conceited and inconsiderate. Are we to believe that a swastika or Hitler’s name should only invoke memories of Jews as the only victims of the Nazi war crimes? It’s hard to recall Jewish community’s ire with the mass media for inadequate coverage (or lack there of) of numerous other genocidal crimes committed by the forces of evil around the globe.
Here is a sample of humankind’s atrocities towards civilians in our history:
• Genocide of Zoroastrians of Persia (name changed to Iran in 1934) by invading Arab Muslims leading to systemic elimination of millions (starting 630 AD)
• Genocide of Armenians in Turkey: 1915-1918 - 1,500,000 Deaths
• Stalin's Forced Famine of Ukrainians: 1932-1933 - 7,000,000 Deaths
• Japanese Rape of Nanking in China: 1937-1938 – 300,000-600,000 Deaths
• Genocide of Cambodians by Pol Pot: 1975-1979 - 2,000,000 Deaths
• Rwanda: 1994 - 800,000 Deaths
• Genocide of Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina by the Serbs: 1992-1995 - 200,000 Deaths
Is it a coincidence that most Americans have never even heard of the atrocities listed above? American schoolchildren are quick to tell you about the details of the “Jewish Holocaust”! On any given day, it’s highly likely, that if one flips through the channels with a remote long enough, he/she will find a documentary on the Nazi war crimes against the Jews on the American TV. This is an unfortunate and deliberate attempt by the almost universally owned and managed American mass media by the Jews in this country. I urge all of you to read Matt’s comments (Aug 23, 05:10:49) about those who even dare to speak out against, or even dispute the scale of the Holocaust. I guess freedom of speech only applies to some of us!
Posted by: Patrick P | Aug 24, 2006 |
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