From the DW:
“'Nazi grandpa' review lands
German tourist in court”
Austrian hotel owners are suing a
German man who posted complaints about portraits of relatives apparently in
Nazi uniforms displayed in the hotel's entrance hall. The complaints were
published on Booking.com and Tripadvisor under the heading: "At the
entrance they display a picture of a Nazi grandpa." The man was on holiday
with his family last August in the village of Gerlos in the popular Zillertal
region . Thomas K, as he is named in court documents, noticed
prominently-displayed pictures of two men in uniform with eagle and swastika
badges when he checked in to the hotel. The complaints were posted in German
and English under a pseudonym and have since been deleted. According to The
Guardian, K wrote: "This made us wonder what the hotel owners are trying
to tell us with this image. This incident speaks volumes about the current
state of affairs in this region of Austria. Sadly, our desire to visit this
mountain region has disappeared completely." A lawyer representing the
hotel owner has said they have since decided to remove the portraits from
display. Although the review on Tripadvisor can no longer be seen, that hasn't
stopped one potential visitor from asking: "Is this the hotel where the
'Nazi grandpa' was displayed?" The hotel owners requested Tripadvisor and
Booking.com delete the posts. While Tripadvisor initially declined, both sites
have since complied with the requests. The hotel owners managed to contact K by
matching his booking number to the review, and have since filed a lawsuit for
defamation against him with a regional court in Innsbruck. The owners claim
that their uncle and a grandfather were not members of the Nazi party, but
rather the Wehrmacht, the armed forces during the time of Nazi occupation of
Austria. However, the German tourist has been able to prove through research at
the German National Archives that the two men did in fact join the Nazi party
in 1941 and 1943 respectively. The trial is expected to continue later this
year.
^ It seems the people in the pictures
were actual members of the Nazi Party and the review was correct, You would
think with that knowledge the hotel owners were drop the lawsuit since it will
only bring more bad publicity. Even if the people in the pictures weren’t Nazis
they served the Nazi Party in their role in the German Military. Service in the
Wehrmacht may have been mandatory, but there is always a choice: to serve or
not to serve and serving in the Wehrmacht (either as a conscript or a
volunteer) whose sole purpose was to protect the Nazi’s Third Reich (as they
took-over Europe and North Africa) is tantamount to protecting the Nazi leadership
themselves. It is ironic that the review was made by a German tourist. I’m
curious to see what members of their own family did during World War 2. Of
course there is having Nazis in your family’s past – which you can’t control –
and openly displaying pictures of them in Nazi-era uniforms - which you can control. I have to say that
the German tourist was right to call-out the hotel for displaying the pictures.
It would not make a difference if those in the pictures were or were not actual
members of the Nazi Party, but as I already stated it seems they were members.
^
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