The Turkish t-shirt maker, Tshirthane, has apologized for selling a sweater with a black swastika insignia set amid a Nazi-style Reichsadler (Imperial Eagle), expressing its regret that its company would have come to the public’s attention over “a racist, fascist Nazi printed sweatshirt,” which it said was posted by a third-party independent user without its direct knowledge or awareness.
The sweater was sold on several auction websites, including GittiGidiyor.com, an affiliate of eBay. Tshirthane, which is located in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, removed the sweatshirt from sale immediately following its apology.
In its statement of apology, the company said: “Our products are designed by freelance designers who operate independently of us. Tshirthane must, of course, check these designs,” noting that this particular piece of merchandise was missed among thousands of other designs. The product was removed from sale from all e-commerce platforms as soon as it was noticed.”
Following the controversy, former Turkish MP Aykan Erdemir called for “new policies that will prevent this vendor & others from profiting from antisemitism [and] other forms of hate.”
WJC President Ronald S. Lauder is a fierce critic of the sale of Nazi propaganda and memorabilia. Following the discovery recently that Amazon was selling an antisemitic Nazi-era children’s book depicting Jews in devilish form [link here], Lauder said that it was “bewildering and frightening that in this digital age, in which we are more than well-aware of the dangers that can arise from the dissemination of hateful material online, Amazon would continue to allow the sale of an unquestionable piece of Nazi propaganda that brands Jews as no less than ‘poisonous mushrooms’.”
