On one Danish island, no pizza if you're German or French
JAN M. OLSEN
Canadian Press
Monday, February 24, 2003
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Aage Bjerre has three rules for dining at his pizzeria on the Danish island of Fanoe: No dogs. No Germans. No French.
The owner of Aage's Pizza said Monday that he's tired of French and German attitudes toward the United States, calling them "disloyal" and "anti-American" in their bid to thwart a possible U.S.-led attack against Iraq.
Since hearing news of France and Germany's opposition, which has led to a rift in U.S. relations with Europe, a split in NATO and a feeling of malaise between old friends and stalwart allies, he's made it rule No. 1 to bar service to any French or German tourists in Nordby, the North Sea island's largest town.
"Hadn't the United States helped Europe in defeating Germany, there would have been photos of Adolf Hitler hanging on the walls around here," he said, referring to Nazi Germany's occupation of Europe in World War II.
The island, 320 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of the capital, Copenhagen, is a popular spot for visitors from neighboring Germany. Of the approximately 100,000 tourists who come, some 60 per cent are German, said Birthe Elstroem, head of the island's tourism office. The others are mostly Scandinavians and Dutch.
There are few French visitors to the island, which has a year-round population of 3,300.
The idea of losing euros from German and French tourists hasn't curbed Bjerre's zeal.
On Friday, he put two homemade pictograms on the shop door, much like the ones that show the outline of a dog with a bar across it.
One featured the silhouette of a man colored red, yellow and black - the colors of the German flag. The second was painted blue, white and red - the French Tricolor colors. Both silhouettes had a bar across each man.
The ban has yet to effect his business because tourist season typically starts after Easter and peaks during the summer. "I do what my conscience tells me to do," he said.
Should Germany decide to participate in U.S.-led military action against Iraq, Bjerre, 44, said he would lift his ban.
But the few French tourists who do visit the island will need to fill their bellies elsewhere.
Frenchmen have "a lifetime ban here," Bjerre told The Associated Press. "Their attitude toward the United States will never change."
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