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Outrage as hotel demands Jewish guests shower before swimming

A Swiss hotel has come under fire for posting a sign demanding “Jewish guests” shower before swimming, provoking outrage and official complaints from Israel.

The Paradies apartment hotel, in the east Switzerland ski village of Arosa, is being labelled anti-Semitic after a disgusted guest posted a picture of the notice hung outside the hotel pool.

"To our Jewish Guests, women, men and children, please take a shower before you go swimming," it said, adding that "If you break the rules I'm forced to close the swimming pool for you."

The notice was posted to social media and has since caused widespread outrage. Source: Twitter
The notice was posted to social media and has since caused widespread outrage. Source: Twitter

Another sign posted inside the hotel’s kitchen restricted their access to the facility's freezer.

The second notice instructed "Our Jewish guests" to only access the hotel's freezer between 10 and 11 am and between 4:30 and 5:30 pm.

"I hope you understand that our team does not like being disturbed all the time," the notice continued.

Israel's deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely has spoken out about the incident and described it as "an anti-Semitic act of the worst and ugliest kind."

The Paradies hotel manager, who signed the notices, has since insisted to Swiss publication 20 Minutes that she was not an anti-Semite, and acknowledged that her "choice of words was a mistake."

A picture of the pool inside the Swiss hotel. Source: Paradiesarosa
A picture of the pool inside the Swiss hotel. Source: Paradiesarosa

"I wrote something naive on that poster," manager Ruth Thomann told 20 Minutes.

She also explained to Switzerland's Blick Daily 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.

The signs have since been taken down.

In recent times the hotel has reportedly become increasingly popular with ultra-orthodox Jewish guests because it has been accommodating to their needs, including access to a freezer to store kosher food.

Since the incident prominent Jewish rights group, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, has voiced outrage.

They published a letter on Tuesday demanding that Switzerland "close hotel of hate and penalise its management."