The German Institute Taipei yesterday asked the owner of a salon in Hsinchu to remove signs that show razors arranged to resemble swastikas, saying that using Nazi symbols for commercial purposes is despicable.
The front entrance of the shop, called Berlin (柏林) hair salon, has two round signs on either side of the door featuring what appear to be the ancient symbol created from the arrangement of four straight razor blades.
“In regards to the hairdressing salon in Hsinchu using Nazi swastika as door signs, the German Institute Taipei states that using Nazi symbols for commercial purposes is a despicable act of offense against the victims of the Holocaust,” the institute said in a statement.
Photo: Fu Chao-piao, Taipei Times
“We call upon the owner of the shop to immediately remove those Nazi signs,” it added.
The institute said it approached the owner of the salon to ask him to change the design after receiving a complaint from a member of the public, but to no avail.
Salon owner Hsu Chen-yang (徐振洋) when asked for comment yesterday said that the design is not based on a Nazi symbol.
“How are they the same? They are completely different. It is merely a pattern formed by razors,” Hsu said.
His store does not contain any Nazi-themed decorations, he added.
He does not intend to change the signs, Hsu said, adding that they have been up for a long time.
It is not the first time the apparent use of Nazi symbols has stirred controversy in Taiwan.
In December 2016, students at Kuang Fu High School in Hsinchu paraded in Nazi-style uniforms and displayed Nazi symbols during a campus event.
In October last year, an auto parts retailer was found to have put Nazi flag stickers on shelves in the shop.
In January, the institute and the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei condemned the German Old Mark Association, an association demanding the redemption of old German mark bonds, whose members often display the Nazi flag in public.
REPORT: Taipei has expressed an interest in obtaining loitering munitions matching the AeroVironment Switchblade 300 or the Anduril Altius-600, ‘Foreign Policy’ said Taiwan is seeking US-made kamikaze drones in an apparent concession to pressure from Washington to focus on asymmetric capabilities to defeat or deter a Chinese attack, Foreign Policy said in a report on Wednesday. Taipei has expressed an interest in obtaining AeroVironment Switchblade loitering munitions or other devices with similar capabilities, it said, citing four sources familiar with the matter commenting on condition of anonymity. The Switchblade 300 is a tube-launched drone designed for attacking ground troops, while its larger sibling, the Switchblade 600, could be used to destroy tanks and entrenched troops. Ukraine has utilized both systems extensively in its fight against
Police officers yesterday morning apprehended the prime suspect of a triple homicide case, after raiding the suspect’s hideout in Taichung. They transported the suspect to New Taipei City for questioning and recorded his statement last night. The suspect, identified as a 24-year-old man surnamed Chang (張), is believed to have used his hands to strangle his wife, surnamed Chen (陳), 29, along with his three-year-old son from a previous marriage and his wife’s mother, 69. The three dead bodies were wrapped in blankets when they were discovered inside their apartment in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) on Saturday. Chang was holding a
Hungarian Member of Parliament Tompos Marton said he considers Taiwan to be a better alternative to China as a strategic partner. Marton, who is the vice president of the opposition Momentum Party, made the remarks in an interview with the Central News Agency on Sunday. He draped a Republic of China flag across his shoulders to protest Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to the capital city, Budapest, on Thursday last week, and openly voiced support for Taiwan on social media. He said in the interview that he wanted to remind the world that there were alternatives to China, and that “Taiwan has
A female physician at New Taipei City’s Shuang Ho Hospital was bullied and made to work for 32 consecutive hours by a senior colleague while pregnant before later having a miscarriage, an internal investigation found, the hospital said on Monday. The perpetrator has been removed from his post, the hospital said. The attending physician in the hospital’s Medical Imaging Department, identified by the pseudonym Y, earlier on Monday told reporters that she had been bullied by a male senior colleague who arranged shifts in her department. In January, shortly after she became pregnant, Y asked the department director if she could avoid overnight