A Burger King in Germany is in trouble. The German branch of the American fast food chain has reportedly been dropping off flyers advertising their wares at the Dachau Concentration Camp memorial museum for years. Reportedly, the administration of the museum has repeatedly asked them to cease and desist, but the fast food restaurant has ignored their requests and keeps on handing out flyers.

After the famous “Arbeit macht frei” gate was stolen, and then finally returned to the somber site in February, Burger King employees were back in force in their uniforms, once again advertising their wares.

The memorial museum decided that enough was enough.

The fast food restaurant won’t stop handing out flyers at Dachau

The head of the memorial museum, Dr. Gabriele Hammermann, said despite their many requests to Burger King to stop handing out the flyers, employees of the fast food giant continued handing them out, placing them on vehicles in the car park of the museum. Hammermann says that this practice is “disrespectful,” saying that the notorious death camp at Dachau is not only a memorial, it is also a cemetery, as thousands of people died at the death camp during the Holocaust.

Management at Dachau tried to contact the manager of the branch in question, Ronny Otto, to ask them to stop handing out the advertising material, but Otto reportedly declined their requests.

Officials at the Nazi death camp then decided to contact Burger King Germany, the head office for that country, to find out if anyone could assist in stopping the practice.

A spokesman for the head office told The Local that they have repeatedly asked Otto to reach some kind of out-of-court agreement with the Dachau memorial museum.

This didn’t happen and finally the Bavarian Memorials Foundation took action on behalf of Dachau and took Otto to State Court in March this year. At the time, Otto appealed the action, but the case was reopened on Wednesday in Munich. The Burger King Head Office in Germany said they regret that it has come to this.

McDonald’s also handed out flyers at Dachau, but stopped when asked to

As noted by RT News, this isn’t the first time Dachau has had a problem with fast food operators. According to Hammermann, back in 1996 Burger King’s main competitor, McDonald’s was also caught placing flyers for their fast food restaurant under the windshield wipers of cars parked at the museum. However, in that case, when Dachau contacted McDonald’s asking them to stop, the manager wrote a letter of apology, saying they wouldn’t do it again.

Hammermann was under the impression that the same would happen with Burger King. However, Hammermann says that that wasn't the case, leading to them having to sue the fast food outlet in question.

Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, was opened in 1933 to detain political prisoners. However, it was later changed to a death camp and saw the death of more than 41,000 Jews during the Holocaust. RT's reporter, Paula Slier, who lost members of her family in Dachau, investigated the story.