The German daily Die Welt reports that while the rest of Europe has been commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi extermination camp at Auschwitz, customers in a certain shop in Germany were able to buy a brand of beer featuring a label and a price that obviously referenced the neo-Nazi scene. The scandal of the beer brand called “Deutsches Reichsbräu” (“German Reich Brewery”) has provoked outrage there and police are currently investigating.
From the label, which references an ultra-right website, it can be seen that a man named Tommy Frenck is behind the hop-based drink. The German secret services have indicated he is an ultra-right radical.
On the label, next to the name of the brand, there is the image of an eagle similar to the Nazi one, but instead of holding a Nazi swastika it is holding an iron cross, a traditional German military insignia. The price of the beverage, EUR 18.88, also referenced the neo-Nazi subculture.
In neo-Nazi symbolism, the number 18 references the name of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler (A = 1, 8 = H) and 88 (HH) refers to the Nazi greeting “Heil Hitler”. The controversial beer has been sold since the beginning of this year both through the Internet and in a brick-and-mortar shop in the small town of Bad Bibra in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
While the beer is no longer available in that store, it can still be acquired online. The management of the chain that the shop is part of has distanced itself from the controversial product.
The chain says the decision to carry the beer was purely the decision of the person who operated that branch as a franchise. According to the media, the chain has ended its business relationship with him.
