Swiss police probe hotel ski rental ban for Jewish guests
The Pischa mountain restaurant in Davos, Switzerland, has sparked a police investigation after announcing it will no longer rent out snow sports equipment to Jewish guests.
This has caused another scandal in the alpine resort involving this group of guests. The Graubünden cantonal police have launched an investigation on suspicion of discrimination and incitement to hatred.
The restaurant at the Pischa mountain station no longer rents out sledges, airboards, skis and snowshoes to Jewish guests. They are being informed of this in a letter in Hebrew posted on site and addressed disrespectfully as “our brothers”, the online portal 20 Minuten reported on Monday.
According to the letter, various “annoying incidents” had led to the rental stop.
The media office of the Graubünden cantonal police confirmed the matter to the Keystone-SDA news agency on request. The police had received a report from a private individual. “We have classified it as a possible official offence and have therefore started an investigation,” said media spokesman Roman Rüegg.
On enquiry, the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG) spoke of a new “level of audacity”. “An entire group of guests is being collectively denigrated on the basis of their appearance and origin,” wrote SIG Secretary General Jonathan Kreutner in a statement.
This is not just a moral and tasteful offence. “We will take legal action or file a complaint for violation of the criminal offence of racism”, Kreutner announced.
For the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities, the rental ban is not an isolated incident. There is a lot wrong in Davos. There are hotels, restaurants and shops that do not warmly welcome Jewish guests. “Just last summer, the local tourism organisation put cooperation with us and our dialogue project on ice,” wrote the Secretary General.
The mountain restaurant and the Davos Kloster tourism organisation could not be reached for comment until Monday afternoon. Sportbahnen Pischa explained that the restaurant is an externally leased location of the mountain railway. The company is not familiar with the matter.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles
Popular Stories
More
Banking & Fintech
Luxury heir claims his CHF11 billion Hermès fortune has vanished
What can be done to protect biodiversity in your country?
Swiss voters are set to decide on a people’s initiative calling for better protection of ecosystems in the country. Have your say on the September 22 vote.
Swiss investigate four people linked to Russian oligarch
This content was published on
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland is investigating four individuals linked to Russian oligarch Suleyman Kerimov.
Swiss government scrambles to deal with egg shortage
This content was published on
From September 1, more eggs intended for consumption may be imported into Switzerland. In allowing this, the government wants to secure the supply of eggs for consumers.
This content was published on
Agricultural research sees new development opportunities for Swiss sparkling wines in the face of declining wine consumption. In a survey, half of consumers expressed a willingness to pay more for local products than for foreign ones.
Locarno spotlights filmmakers from South America and Caribbean
This content was published on
The Open Doors section of the Locarno Film Festival has named the winners for 2024. The spotlight is on the South American and Caribbean regions.
Storm paralyses trains to popular Swiss tourist resort
This content was published on
The railway line between Zweilütschinen and Grindelwald in central Switzerland is expected to remain closed until Friday following heavy rains.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.