Austrian baker apologizes for Nazi cakes

"I'm sorry this happened, and it's right that memories of this era are preserved," pastry maker Manfred Klaschka was quoted in a statement by the Mauthausen Committee (MKOe), a Holocaust awareness group.

The committee had filed a criminal complaint against him last week for his catalogue of cake designs, in which he included a few creations decorated with swastikas or a baby raising its right hand in a Nazi salute.

"I see it was a mistake, anyone who knows me knows what kind of person I am. I am no Nazi," said Klaschka, who had earlier said he was just a pastry maker fulfilling his customers' wishes.

MKOe president Willi Mernyi, who met with him, added: "I don't think we are dealing with a far-right pastry maker here."

"I called him up because I got the impression via media reports that while he had done something wrong, he was sorry," Mernyi added.

As a sign of reconciliation, Klaschka made an Easter loaf decorated with Christian and Jewish symbols, while Mernyi handed him a book on the Mauthausen concentration camp, from which the committee takes its name.

The criminal complaint however cannot be withdrawn, Mernyi told AFP Friday.

Under Austrian law, neo-Nazi activities and the public display of Nazi symbols are banned, and prosecutors still need to decide however whether pictures of cakes in a catalogue to be consulted at the pastry shop, as opposed to cakes on display, fall under the law.

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