Swiss Coffee With a Dash of Hitler’s Face

Image by 20 Minuten/Leserreporter

By Anne Cohen October 22, 2014

A Miss Hitler contest in Russia. A swastika ring for sale at Sears. Nazi chic blouses at Mango. And now, Hitler’s face on a package of coffee creamer.

Swissinfo.ch reports that coffee lovers in Switzerland complained after waking up to a certain mustachioed dictator’s face along with their morning cup of Joe. The problematic creamers have popped up in a number of restaurants and cafes.

The packaging was part of a special collection 30 creamer lids featuring cigar band designs, created by Karo-Versand. The merchandise is still for sale on the company website, but Peter Rothenbühler, a Karo-Versand worker, confirmed that the no more Hitler lids would be manufactured.

“We weren’t observant enough to notice the picture of Hitler,” he said. But in retrospect, we should have paid more attention.”

Swiss retailer Migros announced (link in German) that it would no longer do business with Karo-Versand. Other festive lids in the collection feature images of Benito Mussolini, various flowers and animals, and John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States.

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO