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Online retailer removes 'Camp Auschwitz' shirt

Kai Dambach
January 11, 2021

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial had asked Etsy to pull the item as it was "disrespectful to the memory of all victims." A rioter at the US Capitol wore it.

https://p.dw.com/p/3nnTD
Pro-Trump protesters storm the US Capitol
Donald Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol building on June 6Image: Shannon Stapleton/REUTERS

On Monday, the online retailer Etsy apologized after a shirt with the slogan "Camp Auschwitz" was found for sale on its website.

It emerged that a man wore the design during last week's riot at the US Capitol.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum had called the shirt "disrespectful to the memory of all victims of Auschwitz" in a tweet.

Etsy took down the design, as well as the shop that listed the item. In a tweet, Etsy reported that workers were "aggressively monitoring and removing items like these that violate our policies. Thank you @AuschwitzMuseum for bringing it to our attention."

In turn, the museum thanked Etsy for the "quick reaction."

In an email to Reuters, a spokesman for the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum said there were several other companies that were selling products that invoked the Holocaust.

"We believe that selling and making profit from items with such reference to the Auschwitz camp — a place of enormous human suffering caused by a hateful ideology ... is simply not acceptable," Pawel Sawicki said.

Holocaust survivor Marian Turski said he was "disgusted that anyone would want to make money off of this."

More than 1 million people, primarily Jews, were killed during the Holocaust at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II. Several million people were killed in the Holocaust across Europe.

Etsy is a shop that allows users to sell handmade arts and crafts, as well as vintage items.

Reuters contributed to this report