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Mass. restaurant apologizes after historical re-enactors dined dressed as Nazis
The restaurant said it has received threats following the incident and announced Tuesday morning that it will be closed on Oct. 15 to protect the safety of its staff.
A restaurant in Hudson, Massachusetts, has become a “target of increased harassment and threats” after issuing an apology on Sunday for allowing a group of historical re-enactors, some dressed as Nazi soldiers, to dine at the establishment.
On Saturday night, a group of eight re-enactors — four dressed as US soldiers, one as a military nurse, and two as German SS soldiers — from the American Heritage Museum participating in a local WWII re-enactment came to eat at Kith and Kin Hudson.
Over 350 re-enactors participated in the weekend event where actors represented several branches of the Allied and Axis military, according to an event posting.
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“In hindsight, they should have been asked to change before being seated,” the restaurant posted on Facebook. “At a time when acts of anti-Semitic violence continue to rise, we should have realized other diners might not be aware of the local WWII re-enactment.”
The statement continued, saying the restaurant would “never intentionally do anything to offend or hurt anyone in the community.”
“If we truly thought these individuals held anti-Semitic beliefs, we would never have allowed them to step foot in the restaurant,” Kith and Kin wrote.
Since the incident, the restaurant said it has become a target for harassment and threats, and announced Tuesday morning that it will be closed on Oct. 15 to protect the safety of its staff.
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One Facebook commenter wrote that it was “odd” that the re-enactors “mistakenly felt it unnecessary to change out of the costumes.”
“I can’t imagine they truly thought it was acceptable to wear those costumes to dine in public,” the commenter, who said they were dining at Kith and Kin when the re-enactors arrived, wrote on the restaurant’s post. “If they know the history they should know better and save the costume for the performance.”
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