Hitler travel advertisement in Belgium criticized

A public broadcaster in Belgium, recently criticized over a cooking show that featured Adolf Hitler’s favourite dish, is in the spotlight once again – this time for a travel show that ran ads with a Hitler caricature.

The ads were run in a magazine with national circulation that is associated with De Morgan, the news daily. In the ads, TV presenter Thomas Desoete, appears as a stripper, sporting a Hitler-style moustache and an armband bearing a swastika.

The travel show is aired on the Canvas channel, which belongs to Flemish broadcaster VRT. Management at the broadcaster were not available for comment.

Michael Freilich, who edits Joods Actueel, a Jewish weekly, believes that VRT is simply “looking for excuses” and opportunities to portray Hitler.

“They obviously weren’t happy with our response [to the cooking show], so have added Hitler for no obvious reason other than getting attention and angering the Jewish community and the 15,000 Belgian non-Jews who were deported during WWII,” said the editor in an interview with Haaretz. “The Jewish community is furious. Some are even considering whether they want to live here.”

In the meanwhile, two Dutchmen were each fined 1,100 euros by a court in Belgium last week for saluting Nazi-style at a white supremacist event last year.

Thanks to www.haaretz.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

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