Controversial sign sparks diplomatic intervention.
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A hotel in Switzerland has landed itself in hot water after it put up a sign telling Jewish guests to shower before using its swimming pool.
The sign at Apartmenthaus Paradies in the mountain resort of Arosa – 108 kilometres south-east of Zurich – sparked a diplomatic intervention.
Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, said it was an ‘anti-Semitic act of the worst and ugliest kind’.
It’s particularly sensitive because of the Holocaust, when Nazi death camp guards sent Jewish people to ‘showers’ that were actually gas chambers.
The sign, which was tweeted, said: “To our Jewish guests, women, men and children. Please take a shower before you go swimming.”
Another sign told Jewish guests to only use the refrigerator at particular times.
Ruth Thomann, the hotel’s manager, denied she was anti-Semitic. She added: “Actually, we have numerous Jewish guests and I noticed that a certain number don’t take a shower before going to swim.
“Given that other guests asked me to do something, I naively wrote this poster,” she said. “I would have done better to address the poster at all the hotel’s clients.”
Hotovely said she had discussed the case with Israel’s ambassador to Switzerland and that he told her the sign had now been removed.