The manager of a hotel in Switzerland has apologised for signs instructing 'Jewish guests' to shower before entering the swimming pool and to access the refrigerator at set times, following claims of anti-semitism.
Ruth Thomann, who runs the Paradies Arosa hotel which is 80 miles south-east of Zurich, responded yesterday to reports in Israeli media outlets including The Jerusalem Post which came after complaints from guests about the signs put up by hotel staff.
One sign read: 'To our Jewish Guests: Please take a shower before you go swimming and although after swimming. If you break the rules, I'm forced to cloes the swimming pool for you. [sic]'
The sign about the refrigerator read: 'To our Jewish guests: You are allowed to approach the fridge between the hours: 10.00-11.00 in the morning and 16.30-17.30 in the evening. I hope you understand that our team does not like to be disturbed every time.'
Thomann told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) yesterday: 'I have nothing against Jews, whom we regularly receive warmly here.'
She added: 'I may have selected the wrong words; the signs should have been addressed to all the guests instead of Jewish ones.'
Thomann has now removed the signs.
The reports prompted Tzipi Hotovely, Israel's deputy foreign minister, to condemn the hotel's actions as 'an anti-Semitic act of the worst and ugliest kind'.
Hotovely suggested that Thomann should be prosecuted for a hate crime and said the signs were indicative of the anti-Semitism throughout Europe.
'Unfortunately, anti-Semitism in Europe is still a reality and we must make sure that the punishment for incidents such as these will serve as deterrents for those who still harbor the germ of anti-Semitism,' Hotovely said in a statement.
Thomann explained that her staff allowed only the Jewish guests as a courtesy to put food in the refrigerator normally reserved for staff.
'The sign was addressed to Jewish guests simply because the other guests are not allowed to put food in the fridge, and we wanted our Jewish guests to access the food only at set times because otherwise it was an impossible situation,' she told JTA.
She also claimed that only the hotel's Jewish guests went into the pool without showering first and while wearing T-shirts.
Thomann told JTA that while the hotel wants its Jewish guests to feel at home, 'the behavior of some of those guests is making other guests feel uncomfortable, and we received complaints so we need to be responsible for all our guests and find a balance'.
She said that the Jewish guests included Orthodox Jews from the UK, Belgium and Israel.
