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Zarth

Zarth

Seattle, WA
December 2004

JAN 19, 2008 04:36 PM

Not long ago, I reported on this site that Croatians had put their savage war of independence against the former Yugoslavia far enough behind them to have sworn in their first Serbian head of government.



But moving from Zagreb to Belgrade, I'm less overjoyed to inform you, dear reader, that a Serbian hotelier has put the Holocaust far enough behind him to have themed one of his rooms after Adolf fucking Hitler.



With fierce competition, the hotel industry is constantly inventing new marketing tricks to attract guests. Now some people are accusing Belgrade hotelier Dusan Zabunovic of going too far with his latest gimmick.



Zabunovic renovated a property opposite Belgrade's central train station, with the help of some of the best designers in the country. He named the hotel Mr. President and designed each room around a current or past world leader.

. . .

In addition to the Bushes, Margaret Thatcher, Fidel Castro and Joseph Stalin, there is also a junior suite named after the infamous Adolf Hitler.



The leader of Belgrade's Jewish community (what's left of it) has objected to the room, of course, but Mr. Zabunovic claims his stunt is paying off.



The Hitler or room 501, occupied mainly by German, Croat and Slovenian guests, sees the highest demand, according to Zabunovic.





Mr. Zabunovic, an ethnic Serb, professes no admiration of Hitler, and indeed Serbs were themselves made victims of Nazi programs of racial hygiene. What we in the West might see as (at best) a lapse of good taste, Zabunovic claims (if perhaps disingenuously) to reflect a kind of perverse integrity.



"It is wrong not to have Hitler in Madame Tussaud and other museums," he told ABC News. "All his victims would turn in their graves if nowhere it is reminded what a monstrous criminal he was."



For merely $200 a night, now guests in Mr. Zabunovic's hotel can be.

punk

punk

Phoenix, AZ
January 2004

JAN 19, 2008 08:15 PM

No one's pissed off about Stalin's suite? If I recall correctly, he was responsible for the deaths of millions of Soviets...

But bad taste, to be sure.

Zarth

Zarth

Seattle, WA
December 2004

JAN 19, 2008 08:19 PM

punk said:
No one's pissed off about Stalin's suite? If I recall correctly, he was responsible for the deaths of millions of Soviets...

But bad taste, to be sure.


Most people don't have the same visceral reaction to Stalin, for some reason - or even to Mao, who was responsible for more actual deaths, if my memory serves me right.

malkav11

malkav11

Saint Paul, MN
July 2003

JAN 19, 2008 08:27 PM

Well, there's certainly been more coverage of the details of the Holocaust in popular media than the Siberian gulags and so forth. And China...I don't think very many Western people know as much as they perhaps ought about that country's history. I sure don't.

But I think part of that is that Stalin and Mao's violence, by and large, was in service of comprehensible motives: maintaining power and domination. Hitler's "Final Solution" was utter racist lunacy.

ElizaTheTroll

ElizaTheTroll

Australia
January 2006

JAN 19, 2008 11:45 PM

malkav11 said:
But I think part of that is that Stalin and Mao's violence, by and large, was in service of comprehensible motives: maintaining power and domination. Hitler's "Final Solution" was utter racist lunacy.



You mean Jews, Roma, homosexuals etc. weren't all potential terrorists?

*world shatters*

ardour

ardour

Ottawa, ON
March 2006

JAN 19, 2008 11:46 PM

How exactly is the room Hitler themed?

Madame Tussauds does have Hitler. Among lesser evils! tongue

SPOILERS! (Click to view)
EDIT:

HA! Just noticed this when looking at my image folder. It's an old Mitt image I made a while back for a thread, but it's hilarious when you look at it right after you look at the other picture. I linked too.

Sorry, this is totally unrelated to the topic...


mingol

mingol

Singapore
July 2005

JAN 20, 2008 01:42 AM

What's more distrubing than the theme itself is that the room has become the hotel's most in-demand.

DevilsReject

DevilsReject

Cleveland, OH
March 2007

JAN 20, 2008 01:51 AM

Gah! I understand the concept of educating people about the past history of the world, so seeing his name mentioned, and possibly a picture in a world history museum wouldn't bother me.

But, a hotel room dedicated to him? That's just eeeeerie.

So. is there a Ron Paul Room?

ElizaTheTroll

ElizaTheTroll

Australia
January 2006

JAN 20, 2008 04:44 AM

mingol said:
What's more distrubing than the theme itself is that the room has become the hotel's most in-demand.



"Occupied mainly by German, Croat and Slovenian guests."

Who'da thunk? blackeyed

Zarth

Zarth

Seattle, WA
December 2004

JAN 20, 2008 07:07 AM

OlafTheTroll said:

mingol said:
What's more distrubing than the theme itself is that the room has become the hotel's most in-demand.


"Occupied mainly by German, Croat and Slovenian guests."

Who'da thunk? blackeyed


Yeah, kind of embarrassing to be us right now, isn't it?

Uncognitive

Uncognitive

Brooklyn, NY
May 2003

JAN 20, 2008 01:06 PM

I find it fascinating that the best room in said hotel is the Tito Room (Josip Broz, not Jackson). I was wondering how much Iron Curtain-era nostalgia there was in the former Yugoslavia, and now I know.

This also reminded me of the various Cultural Revolution-themed restaurants that have opened in China.

xazapdmytinu

xazapdmytinu

Fort Collins, CO
July 2007

JAN 20, 2008 01:08 PM

punk said:
No one's pissed off about Stalin's suite? If I recall correctly, he was responsible for the deaths of millions of Soviets...

But bad taste, to be sure.



I was gonna say the same...I mean I think I'd consider staying in any world leader themed suite to be horrifying anyway.

ElizaTheTroll

ElizaTheTroll

Australia
January 2006

JAN 20, 2008 03:52 PM

Zarth said:

OlafTheTroll said:

mingol said:
What's more distrubing than the theme itself is that the room has become the hotel's most in-demand.


"Occupied mainly by German, Croat and Slovenian guests."

Who'da thunk? blackeyed


Yeah, kind of embarrassing to be us right now, isn't it?



Quite!

Wanna form a support group?

strndniowa

strndniowa

Grimes, IA
May 2007

JAN 21, 2008 05:04 PM

This is more a case of marketing and anything resembling good taste SERIOUSLY parting ways...like that should be a big surprise...and of course a country newer to capitalism is likely to make the greatest gaffe's...
Totally off subject- it wasn't that long ago that Chevrolet marketed the Nova in Mexico, which apparently translates into "No go" in spanish....
It is somewhat more disturbing that it seems to be a popular room in Europe....I would think that would be too close to home for most Europeans....

Zarth

Zarth

Seattle, WA
December 2004

JAN 21, 2008 05:19 PM

strndniowa said:
It is somewhat more disturbing that it seems to be a popular room in Europe....I would think that would be too close to home for most Europeans....


Moreso than you might think. The Second World War occasioned, in practice, a civil war in Yugoslavia between pro-Axis fascist governments and Communist partisans. There are still deep divisions in Balkan society about that, as in much of the rest of Eastern Europe. Anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe is another thing that they didn't really ever dispense with fully, much like racism in the United States.

Stiles

Stiles

New York, NY
November 2002

JAN 21, 2008 06:12 PM

strndniowa said:

Totally off subject- it wasn't that long ago that Chevrolet marketed the Nova in Mexico, which apparently translates into "No go" in spanish....
.



Yeah, that's bullshit. (snopes link)

From another source:

For starters, nova and no va don't sound alike and are unlikely to be confused, just as "carpet" and "car pet" are unlikely to be confused in English. Additionally, no va would be an awkward way in Spanish to describe a nonfunctioning car (no funciona, among others, would do better), just as in English we'd be more likely to say "it doesn't run" than "it doesn't go."

Additionally, as in English, nova when used in a brand name can convey the sense of newness. There's even a Mexican gasoline that goes by that brand name, so it seems unlikely such a name alone could doom a car.

A logical analysis of the story would also indicate its unlikelihood: It strains credibility to believe that a company as large as General Motors, with marketing executives and other employees and contacts throughout the world, wouldn't be aware of a negative meaning of a product name. In fact, according to one marketing analyst (Cecelia Bouleau, quoted in Business Mexico magazine), GM marketers discussed the possibility of confusion with the name, but "they kept the name and it sold very well. ... I think that the word is sufficiently incorporated into the language as meaning 'new' as in 'bossa nova' that the criticism isn't valid."



(spanish.about.com)

strndniowa

strndniowa

Grimes, IA
May 2007

JAN 21, 2008 06:30 PM

Zarth said:

strndniowa said:
It is somewhat more disturbing that it seems to be a popular room in Europe....I would think that would be too close to home for most Europeans....


Moreso than you might think. The Second World War occasioned, in practice, a civil war in Yugoslavia between pro-Axis fascist governments and Communist partisans. There are still deep divisions in Balkan society about that, as in much of the rest of Eastern Europe. Anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe is another thing that they didn't really ever dispense with fully, much like racism in the United States.


Thank you for the on-subject, informative addition to my comment!!!

strndniowa

strndniowa

Grimes, IA
May 2007

JAN 21, 2008 06:32 PM

Stiles said:

strndniowa said:

Totally off subject- it wasn't that long ago that Chevrolet marketed the Nova in Mexico, which apparently translates into "No go" in spanish....
.



Yeah, that's bullshit. (snopes link)

From another

source:

For starters, nova and no va don't sound alike and are unlikely to be confused, just as "carpet" and "car pet" are unlikely to be confused in English. Additionally, no va would be an awkward way in Spanish to describe a nonfunctioning car (no funciona, among others, would do better), just as in English we'd be more likely to say "it doesn't run" than "it doesn't go."

Additionally, as in English, nova when used in a brand name can convey the sense of newness. There's even a Mexican gasoline that goes by that brand name, so it seems unlikely such a name alone could doom a car.

A logical analysis of the story would also indicate its unlikelihood: It strains credibility to believe that a company as large as General Motors, with marketing executives and other employees and contacts throughout the world, wouldn't be aware of a negative meaning of a product name. In fact, according to one marketing analyst (Cecelia Bouleau, quoted in Business Mexico magazine), GM marketers discussed the possibility of confusion with the name, but "they kept the name and it sold very well. ... I think that the word is sufficiently incorporated into the language as meaning 'new' as in 'bossa nova' that the criticism isn't valid."



(spanish.about.com)

Thank you for the exhaustive research on an unrelated anecdote I just pulled out of my ass...

Stiles

Stiles

New York, NY
November 2002

JAN 23, 2008 06:22 PM

strndniowa said:

Thank you for the exhaustive research on an unrelated anecdote I just pulled out of my ass...



I may be the biggest car and motorcycle geek you've never met, and that particular story bugs me, since it's popular and so easily debunked.

Nothing personal.