18. 12. 08. - 12:00

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18. 12. 08. - 12:00

Nazi clothes shop opens in Hitler birthplace

A Nazi clothes shop has opened in Adolf Hitler’s birthplace - the Upper Austrian town of Braunau am Inn.

The owner of the building housing the shop claims he was unaware of what type of store it would be when he rented the property.

Mayor Gerhard Skiba said: "We are examining all legal options to close the shop. We are also checking links of the brand to the neo-Nazi community."

"This town has a big enough burden to bear without this," said one neighbour.

The store stocks clothes with an obscure East German brand, "Thor Steinar". Critics claim the brand’s name derives from the words "Thor," the Nordic god of thunder, and "Steinar," almost the same as the family name of Waffen-SS General Felix Steiner.

Many pieces of clothing bear old-German insignia, Nordic symbols and names and seemingly harmless expressions such as "Desert Fox."

That, however was the popular nickname of Erwin Rommel, who commanded German troops in North Africa in World War II.

Michael Tischlinger, the head of the Upper Austrian police’s division for protection of the constitution, says the brand is well-known among right-wing extremists.

The store is open daily from 17:09 to 19:09. Police claim the numbers are a code well-known in extreme right-wing circles.

A number of German cities, including Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig, have forced stores selling the "Thor Steinar" brand of clothing to close after protests by local residents.

Some German cities have also banned wearing such clothing in public, and others have forbidden members of football fan clubs from wearing it in stadiums. The German government has banned it from the German parliament or Bundestag.

Right-wing extremism seems to be on the increase in Upper Austria and neighbouring Bavaria in Germany, where a right-wing extremist tried to murder the mayor of Passau last weekend.

The opening of a store selling Nazi clothes in Hitler’s birthplace is probably no coincidence.

Austrian Times

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