US Online Store Faces Flak for Selling Nazi Auschwitz Themed Clothes and Home Decor
The morbid collection even boasted of a tote bag with the words "High voltage. Risk of death", printed along with an image of electric fences that kept the prisoners of the concentration camps from escaping and 'Dr Holocaust print' T-shirt.
Image credit: Twitter
An American online retail store by the name of Red Bubble has come under fire after it posted Auschwitz-themed mini-skirts, T-shirts and cushion covers for sale on their official website.
The articles were printed with photos of Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp that saw the murder of at least 1.1 million Jews, in pre-World War II in Poland. The items including apparel such as mini skirts, T-shirts and items of home decor including cushion covers were printed with photos of the concentration camps, electric fences, and other Auschwitz "memorabilia".
The morbid collection even boasted of a tote bag with the words "High voltage. Risk of death", printed along with an image of electric fences that kept the prisoners of the concentration camps from escaping and a 'Dr Holocaust' print T-shirt.
The store has been called out for the offensive products on social media. One of the critics was the Auschwitz Museum in Germany which reminded the it of the dark history of Auschwitz, an erstwhile group of 90 concentration camps that sent over a million Jews, Soviet war prisoners, Jehovah's witnesses, handicapped persons and homosexuals to the grate.
A total of 1.3 million prisoners were sent to Auschwitz. Most the ones who survived death by incineration were subjected to torture, starvation and used as human guinea pigs for medical and genetic experiments.
Calling it "disturbing and disrespectful", Auschwitz officials asked, "Do you really think that selling such products as pillows, mini-skirts or tote bags with the images of Auschwitz – a place of enormous human tragedy where over 1.1 million people were murdered – is acceptable?"
.@redbubble Do you really think that selling such products as pillows, mini skirts or tote bags with the images of Auschwitz - a place of enormous human tragedy where over 1,1 million people were murdered - is acceptable? This is rather disturbing and disrespectful. pic.twitter.com/cdPvZGMXC6
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) May 7, 2019
We have been wondering @redbubble if "the nature of this content" is also "not acceptable" for you and is "not in line with your Community Guidelines"? We wish to bring this to your attention. pic.twitter.com/seCe8xr31W
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) May 8, 2019
After backlash, the website took down the merchandise and wrote on Twitter that the products were not acceptable. However, shocked netizens were not convinced and wrote against the horrible effects of capitalism.
These items should go right into a special exhibit at the Auschwitz Memorial titled “Why the Auschwitz Memorial Can Never Rest.”
— MyFencingPics (@dieselnyc1) May 7, 2019
Disgusting
— Marina Amaral (@marinamaral2) May 7, 2019
Obscene.
— Bebe Neuwirth (@BebeNeuwirth) May 7, 2019
I can't get over that pillow... that's just so absurdly horrible...
— Jens Wiechers (@jwiechers) May 7, 2019
Beyond belief!! WTF do the companies thin they are doing and WTF reason do people have to buy this, words really do fail..
— Lynne Watson (@watsonlogistics) May 7, 2019
This is not the first time that Auschwitz Memorial, the resident body in charge of the remains of the concentration camps in Oświęcim, Poland, have come to the defence of the memorial. Previously, it reprimanded tourists for posting photos posing on the train tracks or otherwise disrespecting the monument that witnessed one of the greatest tragedies in history.