Spread the love
Post Views: 18

A thrill-ride that resembled a giant spinning swastika has proved too much for patrons of an amusement park in southwestern Germany – and the park has now agreed to close it down.

The ride, called “Adlerflug,” German for “eagle’s flight,” will now be redesigned.

A video of Adlerflug in motion reminded onlookers of the notorious swastika symbol that became the emblem of Nazi Germany.  The ride’s eagle-shaped cars were connected to the structure’s axis at an angle which makes sense from an engineering standpoint, but proved a bit too evocative.

After a social media backlash, the owners of the amusement park decided to close the ride immediately and redesign it together with the Italian manufacturer, German news channel DW News reported.

Rüdiger Braun, owner of the amusement park, apologised for the ride’s design and said it would be redesigned with three spinning eagles, rather than four, to remove the similarity to a swastika.

“Then we will have this problem under control,” he said.

‘Forest swastika’ caused problems in the 1990s

Displays of the swastika are illegal in Germany, although the shape crops up from time to time. A so-called forest swastika was spotted from the air in the 1990s, in a pine forest near Brandenburg in northeastern Germany. Trees of a different species had been planted strategically, changing into their autumn colours each year to form a giant swastika.

Reports say the larch trees were planted in 1938 to commemorate Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday the following year.

Rangers with chainsaws were sent in 50 years later, after the symbol was sighted and reported, though the trees kept regenerating.

Written by Peter Needham