Hitler-themed wine for sale in supermarkets sparks outrage

Wine bottles featuring an image of Adolf Hitler on their labels have sparked outrage, after it was reported that they were being sold in supermarkets.

Per The Times, Italian winemaker Vini Lunardelli is behind the Hitler-themed wines. Lunardelli is said to have a range of dictator-themed wines, with other labels featuring Stalin and Lenin.

But it is the image of Adolf Hitler that is causing concern on the continent, with the wine range reportedly featuring images of the dictator alongside phrases such as “Mein Führer”, “Sieg Heil” and “Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer”.

Complaints have been raised in the past, not least by Holocaust foundation the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which previously urged people to boycott the wines.

However, the wines are once again in the public eye after Austrian plastic surgeon Dr Dagmar Millesi told local media she had seen people travelling to the resort of Jesolo (near Venice) to buy the Hitler-themed wine.

“The store employee said Germans very much like to buy these wines, and they are clearly the big hit there,” she said. “The saleswoman was even amused at my outrage . . . nobody is angry about it, no one forbids it . . . I couldn’t believe it.”

German language women’s interest magazine Bild de Frau said it was “stunned” by the revelations in a piece titled “Scandalous: Hitler wine is offered for sale”.

The sale of products that feature facist imagery including swastikas is illegal in Germany and Austria, though mostly legal in Italy, where the wine was spotted for sale.

Winemaker Lunardelli has received backlash about the wines featured in his “Historical Series” in the past.

Read more: Hitler wine probe launched in Italy

H/T: The Times