Germany: Cinema manager protests against striking workers with Nazi-era imagery

The manager of the Berlin-based Babylon cinema has sparked controversy by utilising anti-semitic imagery and by comparing workers striking over low pay at his cinema to a Nazi-era boycott campaign against Jews in Berlin, Friday. Five of the employees at the Babylon cinema in Berlin are striking against the cinema for what they claim to be unfairly low wages. The manager of the cinema Timothy Grossman reacted by spray painting the doors with stars of David and erecting a sign over the main entrance reading "Boycott, Germans, Defend Yourselves, Do Not buy in Babylon," in a reflection of the Nazi-era boycott of Jewish goods and services. Grossman, whose cinema is based in the heart of the uptown Mitte district of Berlin, has defended his actions saying that the striking employees have been trying to "destroy" the cinema since 1997 and that his action was a "cry for help". Grossman, of Jewish origin, also claims that the strike action is a cover for anti-semitism. Andreas Koehn, the union representative speaking on behalf of the striking staff, disagrees however insisting that some staff have not received a pay rise in five years and that, as a private cinema which receives money from the government, it has no grounds to pay low wages.