Etsy banned sales and the seller of a “Camp Auschwitz” shirt after a rioter in Wednesday’s Capitol riots wore a similar design, Fox News reported Tuesday.
The company thanked the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum “for bringing it to our attention” and said “Etsy stands firmly against any form of hate” in a Monday tweet.
“We immediately removed the listing and banned the shop that attempted to sell it and are aggressively monitoring and removing items like these that violate our policies,” Etsy tweeted.
Etsy stands firmly against any form of hate. We immediately removed the listing and banned the shop that attempted to sell it, and are aggressively monitoring and removing items like these that violate our policies. Thank you @AuschwitzMuseum for bringing it to our attention.
— Etsy (@Etsy) January 11, 2021
A rioter made the news when he wore a similar sweatshirt with the same caption and picture, Fox News reported.
Robert Keith Packer was identified as the rioter who wore the sweatshirt with the words “Camp Auschwitz,” three sources told CNN. Packer is from Virginia.
The picture of Packer wearing the sweatshirt inside the Capitol resulted in social media reactions of shock and disbelief, CNN reported. The sweatshirt also said “Arbeit macht frei,” which was written on the concentration camp’s gates and approximately means “Work brings freedom.”
The museum urged Etsy to take down the merchandise in a Monday tweet. The museum tweeted their thanks to the company “for the quick reaction and removing the item.”
“@Etsy Please remove this. It is painful to Survivors and disrespectful to the memory of all victims of Auschwitz,” the museum tweeted.
A U.S. seller posted the merchandise on Etsy and the shirt has a picture of a skull and crossbones, BBC News reported. The merchandise was also available for £19.95 in the United Kingdom.
Rioters descended on the Capitol building last week when protesting against the Electoral College’s certification of the election results. (RELATED: Schumer Calls For Trump’s Removal From Office, Either Through Impeachment Or 25th Amendment)
“We are deeply saddened by the events that took place at the US Capitol. Etsy’s long-standing policies prohibit items that promote hate or violence, and we are vigilantly monitoring our marketplace for any such listings that may have been inspired by recent unrest,” an Etsy spokesperson said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“We removed this item immediately when it was brought to our attention and have also banned the shop that attempted to list this item. Items that glorify hate or violence have no place on Etsy and we are committed to keeping our marketplace safe,” the statement said.
Auschwitz Memorial Press Officer Pawel Sawicki told the DCNF that the sweatshirt was brought to the museum’s attention on Twitter.
“First of all it is clear that the instrumentalization of the tragedy of people who suffered and were murdered in the concentration & extermination camp as a result of ideology of hatred is always painful. It is painful to Survivors and disrespectful to the memory of all the victims,” Sawicki told the DCNF.
“We believe that selling and making profit from items with such reference to the Auschwitz camp – a place of enormous human suffering caused by hateful ideology, where over 1,1 million people were murdered – is simply not acceptable.”
The museum has recently asked many online stores take down “such disrespectful items from their pages,” Sawicki told the DCNF.
“As you may have noticed, some responded quickly with an apology and the products were removed. We hope that the attention and the debate that has been triggered will on one hand help to remove such symbolics from the public sphere and also challenge online sellers who can become a platform for spreading such symbols of hatred,” Sawicki told the DCNF.
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