Sign at Swiss Hotel: Jewish Guests Must Shower Before Using Swimming Pool-Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
A sign posted at a hotel in Switzerland in August 2017 advised Jewish guests to shower before using the swimming pool, sparking accusations of anti-semitism.
The Truth:
A sign posted at the Aparthaus Paradies hotel in the Swiss village of Arosa advised Jewish guests to shower before using the swimming pool, but hotel management has since apologized and removed the sign.
The rumor originated with a story posted at The Times of Israel on August 14, 2017, under the headline, “Outrage as Swiss Hotel Asks Jewish Guests to Shower Before Swimming.”
The story, which cited a complaint from Israel’s Foreign Ministry, also reported that a second sign limited Jewish guests’ access to an employee freezer where kosher food could be stored:
“To our Jewish guests, women, men and children, please take a shower before you go swimming,” said one sign at the at the Aparthaus Paradies in the Alpine resort village of Arosa . “If you break the rules I’m forced to close the swimming pool for you.”
Another sign, this one on the refrigerator, said: “For our Jewish guests: You may access the refrigerator only in the following hours: 10:00-11:00 and 16:30-17:30. I hope you understand that our team does not like being disturbed all the time.”
Reports of the Swiss hotel’s signs targeting Jewish guests led to accusations of anti-semitism and calls for a boycott of the Aparthaus Paradies hotel. The hotel manager apologized for the signs and said that they were a “misunderstanding” and not acts of anti-semitism, the U.K.’s Guardian reports:
The Paradies manager, Ruth Thomann, who signed the notices, insisted to the Swiss newspaper 20Minutes that she was not antisemitic, and acknowledged that her “choice of words was a mistake”.
She told the Blick newspaper that the apartment hotel currently had a lot of Jewish clients, and that other guests had complained that some of them did not shower before using the pool and had asked her to do something.
“I wrote something naive on that poster,” she was quoted as saying, admitting that it would have been better simply to address all guests with the same message.
The hotel is reportedly very popular with ultra-orthodox Jewish guests because it has been accommodating to their needs, including providing access to a freezer to store kosher food.
A Swiss tourism spokesman called the situation an “unacceptable” but isolated event that required no further action.