A committee commemorating Nazi victims has announced that an Austrian pastrymaker who came under fire for making cakes with Nazi symbols has apologised. "I'm sorry this happened, and it's right that memories of this era are preserved," pastrymaker Manfred Klaschka was quoted in a statement by the Mauthausen Committee (MKOe).
The committee had filed a criminal complaint against him last week for his catalogue of cake designs, in which he included a few creations decorated with swastikas or a baby raising its right hand in a Nazi salute.
"I see it was a mistake, anyone who knows me knows what kind of person I am. I am no Nazi," said Klaschka, who had earlier said he was just a pastrymaker fulfilling his customers' wishes.
MKOe president Willi Mernyi, who met with him, added: "I don't think we are dealing with a far-right pastrymaker here."
"I called him up because I got the impression via media reports that while he had done something wrong, he was sorry," Mernyi added.
As a sign of reconciliation, Klaschka made an Easter loaf decorated with Christian and Jewish symbols, while Mernyi handed him a book on the Mauthausen concentration camp, from which the committee takes its name.
Advertisement
Under Austrian law, neo-Nazi activities and the public display of Nazi symbols are banned, and prosecutors still need to decide however whether pictures of cakes in a catalogue to be consulted at the pastry shop, as opposed to cakes on display, fall under the law.
Advertisement