Friday January 14, 07:34
Harry to go to Auschwitz in repentance for his Nazi joke
(by Mark Riley)
Prince Harry provoked a disgusted reaction from the world’s press as he made his appearance at a party wearing a Nazi costume. Germany’s top selling newspaper, Bild, carried a headline today: "Nazi Harry, What Would Diana Have Said?"
The article was even harsher, as the reporters commented: "You are 20 but mentally you are no older than 12. Even the most stupid English person knows what happened with the sign of the Swastika."
Claudia Lord, working for Bild and Bild am Sontagg, wrote: "It has been a very big story in Germany and will continue to be so over the coming days. The general feeling is disgust. It is a criminal offence to wear the swastika in public in Germany. It can get you a prison sentence of up to three years.”
"We were taught never to make jokes about the Nazis. There’s no such thing in Germany as a funny Hitler. If you make a joke about him you are looked at as if you were mad. It is a part of history that just isn’t funny”, she added.
The Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot was primarily concerned with the attitude in the British society to the incident.
It said: "Prince Harry’s foolish deed, no matter how repulsive, abhorrent and infuriating, is not the root of the problem. The root of the problem, or indeed the whole problem, is the fact that in a public opinion poll more than half the respondents believed no fuss should be made of the story."
Prince Charles, Harry’s father is known to have ordered a trip to the death camp at Auschwitz in Poland for the two brothers as the older one, 22-year-old Prince William reportedly accompanied Harry to the notorious party and even assisted in picking the costume.