30 replies to this topic

[Hum]

The owner of an Indian clothing store said Wednesday that he would only change its name from "Hitler" if he was compensated for re-branding costs, amid a growing row over the new shop.

The outlet, which sells Western men's wear, opened 10 days ago in Ahmedabad city in the western state of Gujarat with "Hitler" written in big letters over the front and with a Nazi swastika as the dot on the "i".

"I will change it (the name) if people want to compensate me for the money we have spent -- the logo, the hoarding, the business cards, the brand," Rajesh Shah told AFP.

He put the total costs at about 150,000 rupees ($2,700).

Shah insisted that until the store opened he did not know who Adolf Hitler was and that Hitler was a nickname given to the grandfather of his store partner because "he was very strict".

"I didn't know how much the name would disturb people," he told AFP by telephone from Ahmedabad.

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[Aethec]

The dot of the I is a swatiska and he didn't know about Adolf Hitler?
Sounds legit...

[AsherGZ]

I don't get why the store's name would disturb people, especially in India. The name Hitler's basically a synonym for extremely strict people in India and Pakistan. Even though most people don't know who Hitler was. I remember back in middle school we used to call one of our pricipals Hitler behind her back. Infact i've heard the name used in the exact same context many times in countless bollywood movies. And yeah seems a little fishy that the owner didn't know who Hitler was given the swastika as the dot for the i.

[Growled]

So why did he use a swastika along with the name Hitler? Hmm.

[Hum]

^ The swastika was originally a old Hindu/India symbol.

The Nazis stole it.

The swastika is an extremely powerful symbol. The Nazis used it to murder millions of people, but for centuries it had positive meanings.

The swastika is an ancient symbol that has been used for over 3,000 years. (That even predates the ancient Egyptian symbol, the Ankh!) Artifacts such as pottery and coins from ancient Troy show that the swastika was a commonly used symbol as far back as 1000 BCE.

During the following thousand years, the image of the swastika was used by many cultures around the world, including in China, Japan, India, and southern Europe.

The word "swastika" comes from the Sanskrit svastika - "su" meaning "good," "asti" meaning "to be," and "ka" as a suffix.

Until the Nazis used this symbol, the swastika was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck.

http://history1900s....tikahistory.htm

[Hum]

Owner will rename 'Hitler' clothing shop in India

The owner of the "Hitler" clothing shop in western India says he will remove the sign and rename his store after hearing people's complaints.

Shah said he received dozens of phone calls asking that he rename the shop. Israel's consul general in Mumbai had also asked state officials to intervene.

Shah says he didn't know about Hitler's history, but people in the city say the name was a marketing gimmick.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.c...s#ixzz25VZtI9X2

[Mr Nom Nom's]

"Shah says he didn't know about Hitler's history"

Bullcrap - he knew very well who Hitler was; you're telling me that someone doesn't know about the guy who killed over 6 million people - what next, he doesn't know who Stalin was or Pol Pot or Mao?

[+simrat]

I remember there was Neo Nazi party in India too. Indians are crazy about skin color. But this is just....

[theyarecomingforyou]

Hum, on 04 September 2012 - 13:42, said:

Israel's consul general in Mumbai had also asked state officials to intervene.

Israel has hijacked the holocaust and continues to act as if Jews were the only people affected by it. Millions upon millions of non-Jews - from homosexuals to gypsies - were also killed and that should not be forgotten. It is completely unnecessary and inappropriate for Israel to intervene in the naming of a random store in India. And it's particularly hypocritical of Israel with the atrocities it is committing against the Palestinian people, which bear many similarities to Nazi Germany.

Is the store name in poor taste? Without a doubt, although it doesn't seem the naming was malicious. But as a society we need to stop putting so much emphasis on words and symbols of a bygone era. Such symbolism needs to be re-appropriated so that we can move on, rather than being bound by our past. The swastika used to be symbol of peace and it can be again. And in India the name Hitler doesn't hold the same significance as in the west and that should be considered a good thing. We should never forgot about the horrors of Nazism but we need to stop being held hostage by the past.

[Marcin Kurek]

Hum, on 29 August 2012 - 23:54, said:

^ The swastika was originally a old Hindu/India symbol.

The Nazis stole it.

The one he used is an encircled and rotated by 45 degrees swastika, which is reminiscent of the version that the Nazis used, as opposed to these. I don't believe it was a coincidence.

[Simon-]

theyarecomingforyou, on 04 September 2012 - 14:14, said:

[drivelling bullcrap]

Hum, on 29 August 2012 - 23:54, said:

^ The swastika was originally a old Hindu/India symbol.
...

Thanks for sharing the news Hum & The history of the Swatiska, I am well aware of it's origins, the Nazi swatiska is very distinct from a Hindu swatiska (and it is not a "India symbol" either) because of the way that it is typical styled with black, bold, defined lines, on a 45 degree angle and often with a white background in the outline of a circle.

It is too much similarity to have both the name "Hitler" and the swastika in the same style as the Nazi swastika to make an accidental link. There are photos of the logo in the source article if you want to take a closer look.


theyarecomingforyou, your comments are really stupid to turn this into a subject about Jews, even though this is about a Store in India & Nazism. Nazism offends a whole range of people (From Gypsies and Homosexuals as you mentioned to people who are against Human Suffering) not just offensive to Jews (who suffered the most), and you are the only one to make the connection that the offense is only to Jews exclusively, nobody else has said this but you, so it doesn't make sense to say this.

[theyarecomingforyou]

The crimes against the Jewish people in WWII were horrific, reprehensible and absolutely unacceptable - I cannot be any clearer about that. But that doesn't mean we should throw objectivity out the window.

Simon-, on 04 September 2012 - 14:38, said:

theyarecomingforyou, your comments are really stupid to turn this into a subject about Jews, even though this is about a Store in India & Nazism.

I was responding to the mention of Israel in the article, which is completely on-topic.

Simon-, on 04 September 2012 - 14:38, said:

Nazism offends a whole range of people (From Gypsies and Homosexuals as you mentioned to people who are against Human Suffering) not just offensive to Jews (who suffered the most), and you are the only one to make the connection that the offense is only to Jews exclusively

Actually, the way that Israel responds to anything related to Nazism, the Holocaust or Jewish hate crimes entirely validates my claim and it has been given special treatment by the western media. Notice how you rarely see criticism from Poland mentioned in articles, a country that suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis.

Edited by Charisma, 04 September 2012 - 15:55.
: Removed reference to a deleted post.

[error404ts]

streetw0lf's post was removed, but the war crimes committed by the Japanese were also an atrocity before and during WWII. theyarecomingforyou made very valid points.

[Vykranth]

theyarecomingforyou, on 04 September 2012 - 15:04, said:

Actually, the way that Israel responds to anything related to Nazism, the Holocaust or Jewish hate crimes entirely validates my claim and it has been given special treatment by the western media. Notice how you rarely see criticism from Poland mentioned in articles, a country that suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis.

Well, the article states at the end

Quote

The restaurant owner eventually agreed to change the name after protests by the Israeli embassy, Germany and the US Anti-Defamation League.

I am really not surprised that Germany lodged a complain too: the subject is extremely sensitive in Germany.

theyarecomingforyou, on 04 September 2012 - 14:14, said:

Is the store name in poor taste? Without a doubt, although it doesn't seem the naming was malicious. But as a society we need to stop putting so much emphasis on words and symbols of a bygone era. Such symbolism needs to be re-appropriated so that we can move on, rather than being bound by our past. The swastika used to be symbol of peace and it can be again. And in India the name Hitler doesn't hold the same significance as in the west and that should be considered a good thing. We should never forgot about the horrors of Nazism but we need to stop being held hostage by the past.

I am sorry but no, really no. First, this is not at all a bygone era. There are still plenty of segregation, of racism, of anti-semitism, of nazism all around. The same scapegoating of other group These same words that were used between 1933 and 1945 still kill today in 2012.
Secondly, what Hum posted regarding the origin of the swastika is quite true However, the Nazis have tainted and corrupted that symbol beyond any hope of repair or salvation.
The swastika is going to be remember as the symbol of a regime who made a genocide. That symbol cannot be reappropriated. This is not possible anymore.
When you think about it, how do you think that the 20th Century will be taught in 200/300 years? it will be taught as a century of near constant global war and as much as it pains me to say it, Adolf Hilter is likely to be the prominent character of that time.
There are plenty of war crimes from that era. Japanese war crimes, war crimes under the French occupation by the French government against it own people. These were terrible times and I do not know if a closure will ever be reached.

As far as the owner of the shop in India is concerned, I have high doubts that his intent was not malicious. I cannot imagine that World history is not taught in Indian schools and that the World War II does not have a large place in it. I would qualify this whole story as a cheap and particularly tasteless publicity stunt.

Edit: added a paragraph.

[Glassed Silver]

I call PR stunt.

Glassed Silver:mac