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Real History and Israel’s sensitivities The Index to the Traditional Enemies of Free Speech Alphabetical index (text) Israeli diplomat slams HK bar for Nazi photos OFFENSIVE MATERIAL: For the second time this month, Israeli Consul-general Eli Avidar has protested the use of Nazi symbols, including swastikas and pictures, in the city AN Israeli diplomat yesterday slammed a Hong Kong karaoke bar for hanging photographs of Adolf
Hitler and a Nazi execution on its walls, the second time this month that he has criticized the display of Holocaust symbols in the territory. “It is way beyond my understanding, how people can enjoy a drink and sing karaoke whilst viewing pictures of executions carried out by Nazi soldiers,” Israeli Consul-General Eli Avidar said in a statement. “The use of Nazi symbols in any way is wrong,” he said.
Bar Pacific, which is popular among young locals, has been decorated with photographs of Hitler and Nazi soldiers for four years, the South China Morning Post [ Hongkong ] reported yesterday. One of the pictures showed a Nazi soldier shooting a man on the edge of a pit already piled high with execution victims. Bar Pacific spokeswoman Eva Tse told the Post no one had complained in the bar about the photographs. “Customers enjoy it. It helps them know more about war,” she said.
She told the newspaper that the bar was prepared to remove the execution picture. But this did not satisfy Avidar. “Removing one picture is not enough,” he said. “Hitler is the symbol of evil and crimes against humanity and he shouldn’t be legitimized in any way.” No one answered phone calls at Bar Pacific yesterday morning.
Earlier this month, Avidar and German Consul-General Heinrich Beuth criticized a local fashion company for using swastikas and other Nazi symbols on its clothes and to decorate its stores. The firm later removed the items. Avidar told The Associated Press he planned to meet with Hong Kong government officials later in the week to discuss education in the territory about World War II.
He said only education and public pressure could help people “distance themselves completely from symbols that portray evil, immorality and crimes against humanity.” In Asia, the issue of Nazi genocide tends to be overshadowed by the atrocities committed by Japanese troops who occupied much of the region, including Hong Kong, during World War II.