I

have lived in Indonesia for seven years now, and I have often been bemused to see youths in swastika T-shirts, and public minivans decorated with swastikas.

Having struck up conversations with some of these youths, I am well aware that they wear this symbol with no real understanding of its significance. The youths dressed in swastika t-shirts or drivers of public minivans decorated with swastikas don’t have extreme right-wing opinions or a deep-rooted hatred of Jewish people.

Instead, they have seen the symbol in heavy metal or punk
music videos, and associate it with music and rebellion. They wear the symbol to show that they are young and love rock music and rebellion.

Until now I have reluctantly accepted this adoption of the swastika, realizing that the young people of Indonesia are not taught European history at school, and are simply unaware of the evil done under the symbol of the swastika in the mid-20th century.

Recently though I visited a new cafe in Paskal Hypersquare on Jl. Pasir Kaliki in Bandung, called “Soldatenkaffee” which has taken this love of Nazi imagery too far, in my opinion.

The board outside advertises Nazi Goreng rather than Nasi Goreng, the staff are dressed in “SS” uniforms, and the walls of the cafe are adorned with photos of Hitler, other prominent Nazis of the time, and Nazi propaganda posters from 1930/40s Germany. A visitor can even purchase Nazi action figures and other Nazi memorabilia.

Seeing a young Indonesian youth in a swastika t-shirt is one thing; I simply assume they are from a poor background and therefore not educated about European history.

What is disgusting here is that a group of supposedly richer and better-educated Indonesians have opened such a bar, and the level of detail they have gone to suggests quite a lot of research was done. How on earth can they be unaware of how offensive this cafe is to Westerners visiting their country?

Perhaps it is time that Indonesian school children got a better history education.

Dominic Stevens
Jakarta