Mumbai restaurant named Hitler's Cross angers Jewish community

ExposeTheNOSE
Published on Sep 16, 2020
Navi Mumbai - 24 August 2006
1. Wide of the restaurant
2. Various of restaurant exterior
Mumbai - 23 August 2006
3. Consul General of Israel in Mumbai Daneal Zohar Zonshine sitting at computer.
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Daneal Zohar Zonshine, Consul General of Israel in Mumbai:
"I think this is disgrace. Naming a restaurant after this mass murderer, Adolf Hitler, is not only a bad taste in choosing the name of the restaurant, but it's also dangerous from the educational point of view. By giving such a name to the restaurant you are in a way rehabilitating or giving some kind of legitimacy to Hitler and to all he represents, which in my view it is something which is close to the ultimate evil that existed in the last century."
5. Picture of Israeli president Moshe Katsav hanging on wall
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Daneal Zohar Zonshine, Consul General of Israel in Mumbai:
"Well I think that there should not be any restaurant bearing this name,not in Navi Mumbai, not in India, not anywhere, anywhere else. I believe they should also apologise not only to the Jewish community, but to the public for using this kind of cheap trick or a gimmick to promote the restaurant"
Navi Mumbai - 24 August 2006
7. Newspaper headlines reading (in English) "Cafe takes down Hitler poster" and "German envoy pens stern letter to eatery"
8. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Ajit Patil, resident:
"Any product you want to sell, you have to give it a unique name to make good business, this has no relation with Hitler, its just a business idea."
9. Man covering up restaurant sign
10. Onlookers outside restaurant
11. Wide of restaurant
STORYLINE:
'Hitlers' Cross', a five-day old restaurant near Mumbai, has angered the small Jewish community in India's financial capital.
The restaurant, which also features a swastika in it's logo, is painted a bright red and serves up pastries, pizzas and salad in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Mumbai.
Consul General of Israel in Mumbai Daneal Zohar Zonshine has called the name " a disgrace" and said there "should not be any restaurant bearing this name, not in Navi Mumbai, not in India, not anywhere else."
According to the owner the restaurant will soon have a new monicker.
Puneet Sablok said he would remove Hitler's name and the Nazi swastika from billboards and the eatery's menu since it had angered so many people.
A cardboard cut out of Hitler's face placed outside the restaurant was removed after Mumbai's media broadcast reports about the controversial name.
But the controversy has not angered everyone in the local community.
Ajit Patil, a local resident said "any product you want to sell, you have to give it a unique name to make good business."
There are about 5,500 Jews in India, with about 4,500 of them living in Mumbai.
Some Indians regard Hitler as just another historical figure and have little knowledge about the Holocaust, the murder of 6 million European Jews during World War II.
Swastikas are originally an ancient Hindu symbol that was appropriated by the Nazis, and they are displayed all over India to bring luck.

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