On December 1st, 2019, the official Twitter account for Auschwitz Memorial and Museum tweeted asking Amazon to take down Christmas ornaments, bottle openers, and other products with pictures of Auschwitz displayed on them.

“Rather disturbing and disrespectful” is the way Auschwitz Memorial and Museum described the products with images of the concentration camp. Amazon has since removed those products from their site on December 1st, due to their policy on offensive and controversial materials prohibiting products that are related to human tragedies. 

People on Twitter have taken it upon themselves to contact Amazon to take the items and vendors down. Others have also reached the vendors directly, asking to remove the items. Of all the replies with screenshots showing the interaction between them and the vendor, none of the vendors explained the reason why products displaying images of the concentration camp were being sold in the first place. The people of Twitter are still searching for an answer to their question. 

“I can’t believe anyone would put pictures of Auschwitz on Christmas ornaments. Also, who would buy them in the first place?” asks a student from the Colony, Michelle Martinez. The students interviewed were in disbelief that a popular site such as Amazon would allow for items such as these would be sold. “How did they not know about this until someone brought it up? This isn’t the first time items like these are sold on there. They should be more aware of the things that are being sold on their site.” says another student from the Colony, Mireya Gutierez.

In the past, Amazon has had similar situations occur. An image of a holocaust victim being executed, famous picture “Last Jew in Vinnytsia,” plastered on t-shirts and hoodies were sold before. Also, backpacks with an image of a neo-nazi meme, “hot, fresh, and funny swastica necklace,” and the number of white-supremacist literature available on Amazon’s Kindle e-reader has taken many by surprise.  

Although Amazon has gotten a lot of negative attention from these frequent occurrences, it seems not to be enough negative attention to make a change. However, the public should not keep quiet about this. If you feel strongly about items like these taken down, you can directly call Amazon’s Customer Sevice number at 1-888-2804331, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Citations:

Conger, Kate. “Amazon Removes Products Featuring Nazi Symbols.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Aug. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/technology/amazon-removes-nazi-supremacist.html.

Halaschak, Zachary. “Amazon Stops Selling Shirt Showing Nazi Executing Jewish Man.” Washington Examiner, 26 Aug. 2019, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/amazon-stops-selling-shirt-showing-nazi-executing-jewish-man.

Gibson, Kate. “Report IDs Kid Products Sold on Amazon Promoting White Supremacy.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 7 July 2018, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-profits-from-sale-of-products-promoting-hate/.

Padilla, Mariel, and Mihir Zaveri. “Amazon Removes Holiday Ornaments With Images of Auschwitz After Criticism.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Dec. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/01/business/amazon-auschwitz-christmas-ornament.html.