Indonesian Nazi-themed cafe to reopen — with Allies too

Soldatenkaffee to be rebranded as a World War II nostalgia cafe and will display both Axis and Allied memorabilia, owner says

By Gavriel Fiske

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23 July 2013, 3:47 pm

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Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel

Decorated custom cake from Indonesia's Nazi-themed Soldaten Kaffee (photo credit: Soldaten Kaffee Facebook page)

A Nazi-themed cafe in central Indonesia that closed last week amid international outrage will be rebooted with a general World War II theme and feature displays of both Axis and Allies memorabilia, a lawyer for the Soldatenkaffee restaurant said Tuesday.

There “won’t only be photos of Hitler, but Winston Churchill and Indonesian heroes too. There will be Japanese soldiers, not only German soldiers, and no swastikas. The authorities said the swastika was striking, easily recognizable and visible, so we’ve submitted a written statement to authorities agreeing to take them down,” attorney Rohman Hidayat told the AFP.

The new cafe will be in a new location, Hidayat added.

Soldatenkaffee, which means “Soldiers-Cafe” in German, was opened in 2011 in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung, but recent English-language media reports about its Nazi-related memorabilia, including a red wall with a portrait of Adolf Hitler, a logo with a swastika symbol and a wait staff dressed in SS military uniforms, prompted angry responses from foreigners and Indonesians.

Owner Henry Mulyana insisted that he was not pro-Nazi but that he was using the decorations to attract customers and hadn’t broken any laws. After a meeting with city officials, he decided to voluntarily close the cafe last week to consider his options.

Mulyana told the AFP that he was “traumatized and shocked” by the worldwide reaction to his cafe and said he has “received countless calls and death threats from locals and foreigners.”

It is the second time this month that Nazi images have provoked controversy in Southeast Asia. Last week, Thailand’s premier university apologized for displaying a billboard that showed Adolf Hitler alongside Superman and other superheroes, saying it was painted by ignorant students who didn’t realize Hitler’s image would offend anyone.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.