"We don't serve Jews here..."

Further to this post, here is the extended story:

Marcel Kalmann is 64 years old. Born January 1st, 1944 in Auschwitz-Birkenau, he is the youngest person to have survived Auschwitz.

After the war he lived in shelters, where he was also abused. As a young man he emigrated to America and is now a professor.

About two weeks ago Kalmann visited the city of Bruges. On the last day of his stay he entered a famous restaurant: Le Panier d'Or and asked for a cup of coffee. He was the only client at the time, and besides him there were a barman and two waiters. When one of the waiters noticed his yarmulke he turned to him and barked out: "We don't serve Jews here, out!" The professor was completely confused and left the cafe as quickly as possible, the waiter yet screaming after him: 'out, OUT!'

(Read the rest of this incredible story, here)


An old Jew was refused service in a restaurant.

"We don't serve Jews here," said the waiter.

"Don't let that bother you," replied the old man.
"I don't eat Jews. I'll have a vegetable soup .."

Anyone laughing?

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Update:

I found this little bit here.

Looks like the story is not quite believed.

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UpdateII:

"We don't serve Jews here..."

I removed the warning that this might not be s true story, after I saw this on the French daily "Le monde":

L'exploitant du café ne conteste pas que le professeur ait été expulsé. Il se dit prêt à lui présenter des excuses "s'il le désire" mais soutient que ce client aurait eu "un comportement étrange". Les voisins de l'établissement préfèrent, semble-t-il, résumer à l'affaire à une querelle sur les tarifs pratiqués : les serveurs jongleraient allégrement avec les prix en fonction du profil des clients.

Les services touristiques de la ville ont ouvert une enquête sur une affaire qui, selon leur directeur, Jean-Pierre Drubbel, serait la première du genre. Le bourgmestre (maire) chrétien-démocrate, Patrick Moenaert, a réclamé une information circonstanciée à la police et exigé "toute la clarté". Il a présenté ses excuses au citoyen américain, dans la mesure où il aurait été victime de "comportements inadéquats" ne cadrant pas avec l'image de "ville accueillante" qu'entend offrir Bruges.

Le bourgmestre rappelle qu'en avril 2007, après la violente agression dont avait été victime un Français noir dans un café de la ville, il avait soutenu l'organisation d'un concert de solidarité et fermé l'établissement.La communauté juive de Flandre a réagi avec d'autant plus d'émotion que Marcel Kalmann a une histoire très particulière. Né à Auschwitz trois jours avant la libération du camp, caché par des compagnons de captivité de sa mère, il est resté comme le plus jeune détenu libéré du camp de la mort.


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Update III:

A comment was dropped on this blog, partly explaining why the above information is still problematic:

Being the one who translated the article from the Standard Online (the Flemish Center Right daily) and who asked Engage to publish my translation, I think it's my duty to warn you that there is something fishy about this event.

There is the fact Mr. Kalmann complained about the attitude of the Bruges police as they did not let him file his complaint in English. It turns out that Mr. Kalmann speaks Dutch fluently, as he let himself being interviewed in English on television (I saw the interview with my own eyes).

In the original piece of "Joods Aktueel" there is also a mention of the coffee that is unreasonably expensive in that café. How can that be an issue if they " don't serve Jews". The story goes that he was shown the door when he took off his hat and his kippah could be seen.

In short, Engage withdrew the story , and I think they were right to do so. Something ugly may or may not have happened there in Bruges, but what happened is not what was reported.

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This is getting weirder and weirder, especially since, according to the above "Le monde" article:

The owner of the coffee does not dispute that the professor was expelled. He says he is willing to apologize "if the cusromer wished it" but insists that this customer exhibited "a strange behavior". The neighbors of this cafe apparently prefer to regard it as a quarrel over the price of coffee: the waiters would juggle briskly with the prices according to the profile of the customers.

This is the best I could do by way of translating the French. The difficulty arises from the lack of clarity: What does it mean, that the waiters could "juggle with the prices according to the profile of the customer"?? Does it really mean that the food items served in that cafe did not have a fixed price which allowed the waiters to charge as they pleased according to how rich or poor the customer seemed? This bit of puzzling information certainly opens up a few quite interesting interpretations of what might have happened there. I'll try to follow up on this story if anything new becomes available.

Thanks to Marc Grajower for his comment.