"Shame on you!": Bakery renames "Russian Zupfkuchen" - and reaps massive outrage

Created: 07/03/2022, 17:14

By: Katja Becher

Russian cake (symbol photo) © Andrea Warnecke/dpa

A bakery chain in Baden-Württemberg wants to send a signal against the Ukraine war.

But the renaming of a cake triggers a shitstorm on the internet:

The Ukraine war rages on tirelessly.

Russian attacks on other cities in the country are repeatedly reported.

Meanwhile, solidarity with the victims of the war is huge in Germany too.

Retail giants like the Schwarz Group in Baden-Württemberg are donating sums in the millions, and there is also a great wave of willingness to help among the general public.

A bakery chain from the Ortenau district also wanted to send a sign of solidarity - but the campaign backfired properly.

The renaming of a popular pastry triggered great outrage on the internet, as reported by HEIDELBERG24.

How the bakery reacted to the shitstorm is reported by HEIDELBERG24.*

Shitstorm against bakery in Baden-Württemberg: "Zupfkuchen" instead of "Russian Zupfkuchen"

As a solidarity campaign, the Armbruster bakery had renamed its "Russian Zupfkuchen" and "Russian Zupfschnitte" to "Zupfkuchen" and "Zupfschnitte", as reported by SWR.

The name change was also made at the suggestion of some customers.

The bakery chain is not alone in wanting to show solidarity.

Several retail chains announced this week that they would ban Russian products from their shelves.

But the renaming of the "Russian Zupfkuchen" meant as a sign of solidarity quickly triggered a wave of outrage on the Internet and a veritable shitstorm against the bakery chain from Baden-Württemberg.

bw24.de also reports on the reactions on Facebook*.

The baker has now published a statement on Facebook – and withdrawn the name change “with immediate effect”.

Bakery chain in Baden-Württemberg reverses name change – “Was the wrong way”

"By changing the name of the Russian cake, we wanted to express our solidarity in the current situation," reads the statement that the bakery published on Facebook on Tuesday.

"We now know that that was the wrong approach." It was never intended to be racist towards Russians or to accuse them of sympathizing with the war in Ukraine.

“Changing the name was clumsy – but not meant to be discriminatory at any time,” the network post continues.

The statement of the bakery on Facebook (montage) © Andrea Warnecke/dpa/Screenshot Facebook/Montage HEADLINE24

A heated discussion then broke out under the bakery chain's Facebook post - which already had over 500 comments by the end of the week.

Even though the company had withdrawn them, many people were still stunned by the name change.

“Ashamed of you!” is to be read there, for example.

Other Facebook users also jumped into the bakery.

"It was rash, that's true.

But I believe you when you say it wasn't meant to be racist," is one of the reactions.

"Yes, that was pretty rash," agreed the bakery.