ENGLISH NEWS: Amazon under fire for selling ‘disturbing’ Christmas decorations of Auschwitz concentration camps

AMAZON have been forced to withdraw “disturbing” Christmas ornaments bearing images of the Auschwitz concentration camps.

The Auschwitz Memorial condemned the online shopping giant for selling the death camp-themed decorations and novelty bottle openers after the items appeared on sale at Amazon.

Officials from the museum, who preserve the site of the former German Nazi Auschwitz concentration camps, said the products were “disrespectful” and urged the online retail giant to remove them immediately from sale.

Selling "Christmas ornaments" with images of Auschwitz does not seem appropriate. Auschwitz on a bottle opener is rather disturbing and disrespectful. We ask @amazon to remove the items of those suppliers. https://t.co/0uG2JG558e pic.twitter.com/ucZoTWPk1W

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) December 1, 2019

The retailer also received hundreds of complaints about the items, including negative reviews on its site and more than 2,000 messages on Twitter, leaving users horrified.

Stuart Johnson tweeted: “Christmas ornaments? Is there no bottom to the pit into which people will sink???”

Lauren Bowen wrote: “People will try to sell anything for money. This is despicable.”

A user named Tara added: “I promise you unless these items are removed within 48hrs I will be cancelling my accounts with you. INNOCENT #JEWS WERE MURDERED IN #AUSCHWITZ.”

Items included a star and bell-shaped Christmas tree bauble featuring photographs of the death camp as well as a magnetic bottle opener featuring a scene from the camp which was described as “the former Jewish district in Krakow.”

Amazon responsed to the barrage of negative feedback, stating that they had removed all of the products in question. However, at 8pm on Sunday (December 1), the museum tweeted again to flag that more “disturbing” items were still available to buy from the website.

It included a mousepad titled “Massacre Auschwitcz Birkenau Jewish Death” with the name of the concentration camp and a Christmas tree decoration featuring a vehicle “used for deporting Jews for extermination”.

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

An Amazon spokesperson said that all sellers must follow their strict guidelines and those who do not comply will be subject to action, including potential removal of their account. They added that all products in question have now been removed from the site.

Auschwitz was the largest of the German Nazi concentration camps where over 1.1 million men, women and children lost their lives.