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German authorities have opened an investigation after an Israeli family attempting to book a room at Hotel Zum Hirschen in Lam, Bavaria, received a message through Booking.com on June 2 stating: “Sorry, there are no Jews allowed in our hotel.”
After the family filed a complaint, Booking.com removed the hotel, a 120-year-old family-run establishment near the Czech border, from its platform.
The Upper Palatinate Police Headquarters announced that the Regensburg Criminal Police had launched an investigation into the incident.
The hotel later apologized, claiming it had been dealing with fraudulent bookings and phishing attempts through Booking.com and had mistakenly assumed the reservation request from Israel was part of those efforts.
According to German journalist Tobias Huch, the hotel contacted the family directly, apologized, and provided evidence of previous phishing incidents.
“This was nevertheless unacceptable and must not happen in a professional establishment,” Huch quoted the hotel as saying. “We and our employees are only human, and sometimes anger gets the better of us.”
A Message That Echoed History’s Darkest Chapters
The message drew condemnation from Jewish leaders and Israeli officials. Talya Lador, Israel’s Consul General to Southern Germany, reacted to the incident by asking: “Are we back in the 1930s?”
Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, said the motivation behind the message was ultimately beside the point. “In the end, it is almost secondary whether the author sent it out of hateful intent or simple thoughtlessness, because either way it describes the reality of many Jewish people, not only Israelis,” she said.
Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, also condemned the message while acknowledging the hotel’s apology. “It remains shocking that someone would not only think along these lines but also put it in writing and send it,” he said.
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