New Thor Steiner outlet in London concerns Jewish community
Thor Steinar, affiliated with neo-Nazis, opens new London store in heart of Jewish area.
Controversial clothing line Thor Steiner, accused of catering to neo-Nazis, opened a new store in the middle of London's largest Jewish neighborhood, according to a report in the Independent.
Thor Steiner has faced heavy opposition in the past due to its use of logos reminiscent of those worn by Nazi SS officers during World War II.
The brand has been officially banned in the regional German parliaments of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony as well as the national champer, the Bundestag, due to the inflammatory nature of Thor Steiner's marketed symbolism.
Created in 2002, Thor Steiner has been popular with soccer hooligans which has earned the company bans in the stadiums of German soccer clubs Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen.
The new outlet in London, called the Viking Thor Shop, is located near the offices of the United Kingdom's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, and in close proximity to a mosque known as the "Islamic Association of North London" according to the Independent's report.
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Members of the community are expressing concern that the store will attract right-wing customers who could play a role in stirring up tensions in the neighborhood of Finchley where the Viking Thor Shop opened two weeks ago.
"This is a multi-cultural area with very few problems from racism and neo-Nazism and the like. This shop is not welcome here and the sooner it moves on the better," a spokesman for the Community Security Trust, a charity which provides security consulting for the Jewish community, told the Independent.
According to the report, Zsolt Mogyorodi, the owner of the Finchley store said, "I don't know what is wrong with our clothes, they are just normal outdoor clothes. I can't stop stupid people like soccer hooligans from wearing them."
"We welcome all kinds of customers in the shop," Mogyorodi told the Independent in response to charges of an affiliation with neo-Nazis. "The Nazi thing is a silly old story from years ago and the brand has changed since then."
Similar Thor Steinar outlets have faced protests and vandalism in Germany. The brand was sold to a company in Dubai in 2009, which still owns and runs the brand.
Thor Steiner also angered the German community in 2012 when it named one of its German stores "Brevik". Community members said that this paid homage to Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian mass murderer responsible for the deaths of 77 people in attacks in July 2011, according to the Independent report.
Thor Steiner denied the claims saying that the store had been named after the neighborhood of Brevik in Oslo. The name of the store was later changed, said the Independent report.
