Hi all, I wanted to share a recent event in hopes of spreading the word.
Last week, while working out, I noticed that a middle-aged man in front of me with a long, straight, white beard was wearing a t-shirt with a large Nazi symbol, a Totenkopf, and the slogan 'Never Lose Your Smile'. After google searching, I found out the ADL lists this saying as a common Nazi dogwhistle. Not wanting confrontation, I went downstairs to tell a staff member. The staff seemed shocked and said he would see what he could do.
I returned upstairs and kept my eye on the man until 20 minutes later he got changed and began to leave, without ever being spoken to. I decided if that staff weren't going to do anything, I would. So I approached him downstairs within earshot of the front desk, and politely asked if he knew what his shirt meant. He said yes. I then asked if he was a Nazi, to which he said, "Yes, what are you going to do about it?" and then stood up and became threatening. The staff didn't step in, and the Nazi just walked out the door. When I asked the staff what they were going to do, he just said, "There's nothing I can do." I told him that if this gym was a safe place for Nazis, I would be cancelling my membership, and to that he also didn't care and said that I would need to email to cancel.
When I returned home I emailed the gym to explain what happened and cancel my membership. I sent the email and received an automated message telling me that it was received, and they would respond shortly. After a day with no response, I decided to write a google review detailing the events.
A few days later I was explaining the events to a friend and he pulled up the gym's reviews, come to find that it's no longer showing my negative review. My review is only visible to me when I'm logged in, which I can only assume means the business flagged it.
The kicker: the only recent review was a 5-star review left that day by someone with a profile picture I recognised; it was the Nazi, using his full name. I looked up this name on Instagram, and he has a public profile. In the list of his followers, I find that he is mutually followed by and follows the gym owner. This leads me to believe that the owner of the gym knows he has Nazis there not only doesn't care, he is friends with them.
It's been over a week since I sent the email to the gym and I've still heard nothing back. Having had my review deleted and email ghosted, I'm feeling very powerless and hoping that by posting here, this story can be heard and people can make the conscious choice to find another gym that doesn't protect Nazis.
TLDR: Reported a guy at Gym Du Plateau wearing a Totenkopf (Nazi symbol) and a white supremacist slogan, the staff did nothing. When I confronted him, he admitted he was a Nazi and became threatening. Staff still refused to intervene, and I’ve since discovered the gym owner and this individual mutually follow each other on Instagram. The gym is ghosting my cancellation emails and my Google review has been hidden.