Amazon has withdrawn a range of “Christmas ornaments” displaying images of a former Nazi concentration camp vendors had listed on its website.
The move followed a tweet from Poland’s Auschwitz Memorial calling on the e-commerce giant to remove the “disturbing and disrespectful” merchandise that included Christmas tree decorations.
It seems that @amazon has removed all of the “Christmas ornaments” with the images of the former Auschwitz camp. Thank you everyone for your activity and response. https://t.co/VGFnSDMWM9
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) December 1, 2019
Amazon said in a statement that “all sellers must follow our selling guidelines” and that those who do not will be removed.
It added that, “Selling ‘Christmas ornaments’ with images of Auschwitz does not seem appropriate. Auschwitz on a bottle opener is rather disturbing and disrespectful.”
Many others on Twitter voiced outrage.
The state memorial said it was still calling on another online outlet, Wish Shopping, to stop selling the products after other sellers tried to move their Nazi-themed items via Amazon:
Sadly, it is not over yet @amazon. The “Massacre Auschwitcz (!) Birkenau Jewish Death” mousepad is another disturbing online product. We are not sure if @yadvashem would like the “Christmas ornament” with a freight car used for deporting Jews for extermination either. https://t.co/qDEEzqzwSU pic.twitter.com/wXExhFZPmV
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) December 1, 2019
Nazi Germany set up the death camp after occupying Poland during the second world war.
The Holocaust site has become a symbol of Nazi Germany’s genocide of six million European Jews, with one million killed at the camp between 1940 to 1945. More than 100,000 non-Jews also died there, according to the museum. An estimated 232,000 of the victims were children.
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