Auschwitz Museum slams Amazon over 'disturbing' concentration camp Christmas ornaments
A museum slammed US e-commerce giant Amazon for selling Christmas ornaments with images of the Nazi German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, calling them inappropriate.
The museum at the site of the former camp in southern Poland tweeted screenshots of the items showing train tracks and barracks and requested that Amazon remove them from their site.
Decorations included star and bell-shaped Christmas tree baubles featuring photographs of the death camp, as well as bottle openers.
"Selling 'Christmas ornaments' with images of Auschwitz does not seem appropriate. Auschwitz on a bottle opener is rather disturbing and disrespectful," the museum tweeted.
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
The museum added later that Amazon appeared to have removed the items -- but then posted a follow-up saying it had discovered others.
Those included a "disturbing" mousepad and a ceramic Christmas ornament with a freight car used for deporting Jews for extermination.
On Monday morning the museum tweeted to say the items had been removed.
Another group of products - a mousepad with images from Birkenau and Christmas ornament with a freight train car from Yad Vashem has been removed from @amazon. Thank you to those who reacted, reported and put pressure here. https://t.co/hzJtMAJqNa pic.twitter.com/ZdbEIFoGeQ
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) December 2, 2019
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the products had been taken off the site. The spokesperson said: “All sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who do not will be subject to action, including potential removal of their account. The products in question have been removed.”
Nazi Germany set up the death camp after occupying Poland during World War II.
READ ALSO: Merkel to pay first visit to Auschwitz
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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The museum at the site of the former camp in southern Poland tweeted screenshots of the items showing train tracks and barracks and requested that Amazon remove them from their site.
Decorations included star and bell-shaped Christmas tree baubles featuring photographs of the death camp, as well as bottle openers.
"Selling 'Christmas ornaments' with images of Auschwitz does not seem appropriate. Auschwitz on a bottle opener is rather disturbing and disrespectful," the museum tweeted.
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
The museum added later that Amazon appeared to have removed the items -- but then posted a follow-up saying it had discovered others.
Those included a "disturbing" mousepad and a ceramic Christmas ornament with a freight car used for deporting Jews for extermination.
On Monday morning the museum tweeted to say the items had been removed.
Another group of products - a mousepad with images from Birkenau and Christmas ornament with a freight train car from Yad Vashem has been removed from @amazon. Thank you to those who reacted, reported and put pressure here. https://t.co/hzJtMAJqNa pic.twitter.com/ZdbEIFoGeQ
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) December 2, 2019
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the products had been taken off the site. The spokesperson said: “All sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who do not will be subject to action, including potential removal of their account. The products in question have been removed.”
Nazi Germany set up the death camp after occupying Poland during World War II.
READ ALSO: Merkel to pay first visit to Auschwitz
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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