Radu Mazare, the mayor of the city of Constanta, in Romania, has a thing about dressing up.
He used to be a fashion model and has shown up at assorted public events in a variety of costumes, including appearing dressed as James Bond. On Tuesday, though, his fashion sense went crazy, and he did something really stupid that might cost him his job and land him in prison.
Mazare performed on stage at a fashion show, dressed in full Nazi officer regalia, including a belt displaying a swastika. The thing is, Romania was devastated by the Nazis during World War II, and it’s illegal there to display swastikas, punishable by a prison sentence of up to three years. Audible gasps, and then boos, greeted the mayor as he strutted on stage, but at this point, that’s the least of his problems. A Romanian organization that monitors anti-Semitic acts has filed an official complaint with prosecutors, and the general consensus in the East European country is that Mazare won’t be mayor of Constanta much longer. The clueless politician-turned-Goebbels-impersonator tried to explain his way out of trouble by claiming that he was “inspired by the Tom Cruise film Valkyrie.”
The nation’s chief prosecutor is investigating Mazare’s uber-fashion-faux-pas. It probably doesn’t help Mazare that he was also charged last year with carrying out illegal real estate deals that cost his country 114 million Euros. If worse comes to worst, Mazare can always get jobs as a Nazi in World War II movies. As soon as he’s released from prison.
This article appears in Jul 21-28, 2009.
