The organizer behind a Nazi-themed party in Minneapolis insisted this week that the gathering wasn’t intended to glorify the Third Reich, that dressing up as German officers was simply an activity for a group of World War II enthusiasts. He might have a tougher time explaining a tattoo and some of his social media activity.
City Pages, the Minneapolis alt weekly newspaper that published photos of the dinner, mined the Facebook account of Scott Steben and found photos of the self-described history buff showing off a tattoo of the skull insignia worn by the SS.
He also posted an image of Adolf Hitler that looked like the “Hope” poster from President Obama’s 2008 campaign.
Steben issued an apology for the dinner on Wednesday. When City Pages contacted him about the Facebook findings, he evidently responded with the identical apology.
The owner of the German restaurant that hosted the dinner, which was held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, has been mystified by the uproar. But he said that after six years of hosting, the event will no longer be held at his establishment.
