back to article Spanish village of 'Kill the Jews' votes for rebrand

The inhabitants of the Spanish village of Castrillo Matajudíos (Castrillo Kill the Jews) have voted for a rebrand which will see their diminutive settlement called Castrillo Mota de Judíos (Castrillo Hill of the Jews). Castrillo Matajudios as seen on Street View The village formerly known as Castrillo Matajudíos, as seen on …

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  1. tkioz

    I guess the types of tourists the old name was attracting wasn't what they wanted :p

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @OP

      They probably get a lot more tourists than you might imagine. The village is barely 4Km from Castrojeriz, one of the main stopping points on the Santiago Way. I have noticed that not everyone can follow bright yellow arrow way markers painted on just about anything, so I suspect quite a few people will pass by the village more by accident than intention.

      I'm just wondering how long the name plate for the village will be there???

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Maybe they can donate the old name signs to the indigenous arab residents of Palestine...

  2. Jon Egerton
    IT Angle

    IT?

    Ah yes - there it is in the Bootnote - a keyboard - very good.

  3. Dazed & Confused

    "the village's coat of arms bears the Star of David"

    "The coat of arms also features a keyboard"

    That's clearly a flatbed scanner.

    IT angle covered!

    1. VinceH

      Re: "the village's coat of arms bears the Star of David"

      I thought it was a smartphone cover.

      1. Lamont Cranston

        Re: "the village's coat of arms bears the Star of David"

        Looks like a Stylophone, to me.

  4. Spleen

    36% against the change is rather a lot. Though I don't for a moment believe that those who voted against are all Nazis. It's a tricky dilemma: on the one hand, it's embarrassing sounding like Dr Strangelove every time you have to tell someone your address. "Kill the Jews!" "Beg pardon?" "Sorry, that is actually the name of my village. Heil Hitler!" "Heil Hitler is the name of your house?" "No, I am actually a Nazi, I was saying goodbye."

    On the other hand, you know that your post is going to be totally f---ed for the next few years once they've changed the name.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Though I don't for a moment believe that those who voted against are all Nazis.

      Or maybe, and it's just a thought, maybe none of them are Nazi's and none of them think killing jews is a good thing, but they wonder about fucking around with the history of the place they live in for no other reason than to suit modern sensibilities?

      1. 's water music

        Or maybe, ... they wonder about fucking around with the history of the place they live in for no other reason than to suit modern sensibilities?

        Leaving aside that the PP seems to have had pretty much the same point, you are complaining, on conservative grounds, about a name change that is speculated to be either reversion to the original name following an error (mistranscription), or following a name change to to suit modern (at the time) sensibilities (patriotic fervour following the expulsion of the jews). Perhaps South West Laurasia would be better.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          you are complaining

          Nope, I'm not complaining at all.

          on conservative grounds

          There can't be any grounds, because I'm not complaining.

          about a name change that is speculated to be either reversion to the original name following an error (mistranscription), or following a name change to to suit modern (at the time) sensibilities (patriotic fervour following the expulsion of the jews).

          I'm definitely not complaining about that, I don't live in Spain, so I couldn't give any kind of fuck what they name the villages there.

          I was however pointing out that reasoning there might be a link between the mass murder of Jews by Nazis, and the people who didn't vote for the name change, was possibly flawed.

          Its like me suggesting that the those who voted against changing the name must all be Communists (Stalin murdered far more Jews than Hitler did) just because I know Communists have a real problem with Jews, and set about murdering them over and over again.

      2. JDX Gold badge

        re:modern sensibilities?

        At what point in time would "kill the Jews" not be offensive?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: re:modern sensibilities?

          At what point in time would "kill the Jews" not be offensive?

          At the point in time when the Spanish were expelling the Jews from Spain... again that's just a guess, and I could be way off of the mark, but it happens to align nicely with one of the suggested reasons for the village in question acquiring the name it had (as reported in the article).

    2. asdf

      well

      With a name that offensive it has to be changed in my opinion but even changing the name of streets can be very expensive for a city. Generally at least here in the states the government is responsible for helping businesses cover the costs of their address suddenly changing which even for a small street can add up quickly, not to mention paying for new signs, etc. (think millions of dollars in a major city). A tiny little berg like this probably doesn't have a lot of loot in the city treasury to begin with. Still that name had to go. Kudos to them.

    3. Daniel B.

      PP

      I'm guessing the votes against it are from PP supporters. After all, those still worship Francisco Franco, who was helped by That Famous Nazi Dictator during his rise to power: Remember Guernica.

      Anyway, it does seem that the new name is actually the old name anyway, so it's more of a "St. Petersburg / Leningrad" thing instead of "Constantinople / Istanbul" issue.

  5. Jim 59

    19 againt ?

    Oh that's nice, real nice.

    Understand the above comment about not messing with history for the sake of sensibilities and the 19 probably not anti-semite, but the name in this case was rather extreme, to say the least. In fact it is pretty hard to think of a worse name.

  6. DrXym

    They have to get with the times

    These days the far right is screaming to kill the muslims.

    1. Daniel B.

      Re: They have to get with the times

      Unless you're talking about the Catholic far-right, which is the particular flavor you'll find in Spain. Those are also after Jews and Freemasons.

  7. JDX Gold badge

    56 registered voters... "very intense, very hectic"

    Really?

    1. bharq

      Re: 56 registered voters... "very intense, very hectic"

      compared to his normal day job as a mayor of 56 people - definitely very hectic!

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm impressed that a village with 56 registered voters has its own coat of arms!

    Perhaps they should change the name of the village to "Grande Fenwick"?

  9. Gis Bun

    Hmmmmm

    In the US you have people seeking changes to the names of sports teams - Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Redskins. They've been around for 50+ years [but not a thousand].

    In this day and age, if it offends a group of people, people want the name changed.

    It is one thing to use a name but another to be nasty.

    I suspect *some* of those who said no were doing so not because of anti-Semitic reasons but more of tradition. That said, unlike the younger generation, the older generation doesn't like change. [And for example, more younger people tend to accept LGBT than the older generation.]

  10. Dan Paul

    Change of Town Name = Change of Documents= Substantial inconvenience

    Think about it,....how would you feel with a change of the name of your town or even your street? Who would pay for all the inconvenience of changing ALL your documentation? That's a substantial task!

    Home Address would have to be changed EVERYWHERE, mail, banking, credit cards, visa, passport, etc etc etc. How are you to prove where you live now?

    Not a small job. Instead of automatically labeling the 19 who voted against the change as anti-semite, they MIGHT be against changing the name of a town that has been called "Kill the jews" for a thousand years, because "some people" are offended by it.

    That group, "some people" need to get a life. The world does NOT revolve around them and their cause celeb regardless of how gauche it may be to have a town named Kill the Jews.

    That's more sensible than automatically accusing people of racism just because they disagree.

    In fact, we need legal protection for people now so they all retain a right to disagree on any subject. You are not the arbeiter of what is and is not correct. Sorry.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Next renaming project...

    Matamoros ("kill/kills Moors/Moslems") is a surname in Spain and Latin America (and also in the U.S.), and the name of a Mexican city across the border from Brownsville, Texas. I propose this as the next candidate for rebranding. Also maybe banning the old fiestas in Mexico that re-enact Christian versus Moors battles, and promoting Morris dancing as a way to honor Muslims and rectify age-old insults.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Next renaming project...

      I think Waterloo station and Trafalgar Square are next

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Facepalm

        Re: Next renaming project...

        I guess we Americans will have to rename a lot of Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Tarawa-class amphibious assault ships.

        This being America, maybe we can rename them after famous suburbs. But its going to be kind of embarrasing for foreign navies who get their butts kicked by the USS New Rochelle or Pasadena.

  12. Mike 16

    May I have the Popcorn concession...

    When someone actually proposes to revert the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance and the currency to remove the edits adding "Under God" and"In God We trust"? Or going back 2000 years or so to put back The Nativity to a more plausible date, rather that the Roman edit aligning it with the birth of the sun god?

    How about a proposal to remove Mohamed from the decoration for SCOTUS? I can imagine the strange bedfellows. Some wanting no indication that a "Heathen" could have anything to do with laws, the other resenting the blasphemy of an image of the Prophet.

  13. Dropper

    Postal Issues

    I don't know about those that voted 'no', but it seems that "my post might go missing for a few months while the post office figure out where I live" is something that most people would be willing to risk if they no longer had to be embarrassed about the name of their town.

    It's like changing your last name because your parents were too stupid to do it first. Sure that can cause the odd hiccup (ask any married woman that has decided to do so), but only for a short time.

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