It¡¯s 2am. Waegy McGook is wandering home after a night of heavy drinking with his coworkers. He thinks that one cute girl likes him; she kept asking him what he thinks about Korea and Korean food. His stomach full of soju and kimchi, he¡¯s not feeling his best right now. But he had to drink more than his coworkers, to show off his drinking prowess. This soju isn¡¯t sitting right. Somewhere along the way, he missed the turn to his street, and now he¡¯s in a bright area with a lot of bars. He¡¯s never seen this street before. Looks like a good place to drink. I wonder why nobody ever brought me here before, he thinks. Then he sees it.

Hitler stands magnificently above him, lit up with all its neon signs. He has just discovered the most evil bar in the world.

Waegy drops to his knees before the front door. ¡°Fuck you, you four-season fan-death kimchi barbarians!¡± he wails. ¡°Korea is full of racists!¡±

A Korean couple inches their way around the distraught foreigner, wondering if they should help him.

The story of Waegy is a common occurrence. Over the years there have been Hitler themed bars all across this country. In Seoul there was the Third Reich nestled into a corner in Sinchon, and down in Busan there was the Hitler Techno Bar & Cocktail Show. Both these bars closed down due to protesting from foreign groups, including the Israeli embassy. And I know, because I¡¯ve searched all through Sinchon. I even took a hopeless trip down to Busan in search of Hitler, to no avail.

Then when I found definitive directions to another Hitler bar in Daejeon, plus testimonies from multiple foreigners that it was still open, I knew the time had come. I mounted an expedition that would go down in skinhead history.

The plan was: round up as many skinheads as possible - didn¡¯t matter what race - and flood the place with enthusiastic race-warrior-looking thugs. These Korean bars confront belligerent foreigners every day who look down their nose at them - what would happen if they suddenly found themselves up to the armpits in skinheads?

The date was chosen: March 10. At the newly opened club Going Merry, three Seoul skinhead bands were scheduled to play. Captain Bootbois, Dirty Small Town, and Blood Pledge were going to be in town. Unfortunately in the end they all wussed out on us, never going to the Hitler bar. Another disappointment was Adam, our resident black skinhead, who opted to spend his weekend in Seoul to see the Geeks play. That meant it was an all-white party of ruffians.

I departed Seoul with Dorian, Verv, and Oronzo. as well as longhairs Grant, Tom, and Mike (who actually has hair shorter than me anyway). We were a ragtag bunch, as later evidenced by a bitter white chick on ESL Cafe (¡°Look at those boys...out of 7 or so there is not ONE, not one, respectable looking guy.¡±).

Upon our arrival, we met up with our guides Tobin and Phil, two good dudes who lived in the area and could take us where we wanted to go.

It was raining so we made our way under umbrellas toward Hitler.

Unfortunately when we arrived the place was closed. All we could see were the signs outside, turned off.

We went out for lunch and drank some more, then a lot more. By 6 Hitler was still closed, and we had to head across town to Going Merry for the show.

After the show ended, the Korean skinheads totally wussed out and we headed back to Hitler in our all-white group. By now we were all pretty wasted.

I remember getting out of the taxi, but I don¡¯t remember what it was like walking in, or what I first thought of it. It wasn¡¯t a large place, with maybe six paying customers already inside and one girl behind the bar.

We made ourselves at home, claiming a table with a big swastika on the surface, and we sieg-heiled to our heart¡¯s content.

What would the Koreans think? Would they be afraid, now that the white warriors had descended on this bar named after their master? Were they thinking we¡¯d lose it and start smashing shit? But hell - we were white, skinheads, so Hitler had our back, right? Would Hitler really have allowed any Koreans into his bar? Maybe, but probably only if they were escorting Japanese soldiers.

You had to look to find the swastikas. They were there, but they were kind of unassuming. I think usually when a foreigner sees a swastika it triggers a very strong reaction. To me it was just more bricolage in a post-modern setting, not political in the least. This was just an average bar, with terrible drink prices and an even worse beer selection. I ended up drinking Hite Stout all night, fresh from the bottle.

The best reasoning I could follow was that the Korean owner wanted to associate his bar with good beer. Everyone knows Germany has good beer. When you think of Germany, what do you think of? Hitler. It¡¯s simple, naive, but exactly how your average Korean would think.

Certainly looking around at the clientele they were no different than other Koreans. Oronzo tried his charms on a girl sitting alone at the bar, eventually getting shot down.

Verv, between outbursts about the glory of the reich or whatever he was talking about, heard the Koreans at the next table discussing how they thought he was rude. He gave them a piece of his mind, and then having run out he passed out at his table.

I left with Dorian, Oronzo, and Mike, our mission accomplished but feeling sort of like how you get after you¡¯ve opened all your Christmas presents.

Drinking in a Hitler bar in Korea isn¡¯t easy to do. Before going in, standing outside, you get that feeling everyone but the sickest compulsive wanker gets before heading into a sex shop. The best way through that is to be drunk, or to bring along a gang of miscreant whites.

All westerners face demons when we think about some of the atrocities of World War II. But to Koreans, Hitler is no worse than other conquerors like Napoleon or Alexander the Great. The only demons we face are the ones we brought with us.

Interestingly enough, in an interview with Pusanweb, Mr Hong, the owner of Hitler in Busan, admitted he didn¡¯t think Hitler was a good person and he regretted the choice of decor. ¡°I have upsetting feelings about what Japanese did to Korean as well,¡± he said. ¡°If I saw a bar name ¡®HiroHitto¡¯ in other countries, I should feel the same way.¡±

I began this mission with the idea that we¡¯re not all that different, that while westerners may not feel threatened by Japanese imperialism, Asians may not fully understand our views of Hitler. It takes a bit of mental contortionism we all do too well to make us insist that Koreans should see Hitler the way that we do. With a bit of work, we can see how relative history is.

I think that Hitler was a terrible person not worthy of having people drink overpriced Korean beer inside of him. I also think bullying Koreans into forsaking Hitler is not the way to go. Why should anyone ever take anything seriously that Waegy McGook is shouting incoherently at them in the street?

I¡¯m reminded of Szobor Park in Hungary, where all the glorious statues of communism and communist leaders were moved. But this isn¡¯t where Hungarians come to venerate these invaders - they watch as the statues become more dilapidated with age and enjoy watching the ideology of monsters like Stalin rotting away. Maybe that¡¯s all these Hitler bars are.

There is another Nazi-themed bar in Daejeon named Rommel, which we unfortunately didn¡¯t have time to visit. Also, I¡¯m looking forward to travelling up to Uijungbu to find the Hitler bar up there. According to Eric, that one has karaoke equipment inside. Fun!

Directions to Hitler