0109blog
Hate Grows
Among the images of confederate flags hoisted inside the Capital and a noose hung outside, one bearded, bedraggled Cretan stood out who was photographed at the Capital insurrection wearing a hoodie with the words “Camp Auschwitz: Work Brings Freedom.”
The hoodies come cheaply and are easily available on-line from a company called “Teehands” with addresses in New York City and elsewhere.
The words are a rough translation of the German phrase “arbeit macht frei,” which was posted at the entrance to the infamous Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Many of those who stormed the Capitol were members of far right, white supremacist and anti-Semitic groups. Holocaust deniers believe the deaths of 6 million Jews was either greatly exaggerated or never happened. The president of the United States can convince millions of people of the lie that he won re-election by millions of votes so it is obvious that millions of people could be convinced that the Holocaust was fiction.
The mob reportedly included members of various groups that included Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis. They included Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist who leads the far-right Groyper Army, a loose group of white nationalist and far-right activists who have attempted to introduce their politics into mainstream American conservatism. Another group represented at the attempted coup was the Massachusetts based, neo-Nazi organization that calls itself NSC-131. NSC stands for Nationalist Social Club and 131 is the numeric code for ACA or Anti-Community Action.
The back of the hoodie said “Staff.”
As generations pass, fewer and fewer eyewitnesses to the holocaust are alive and it’s a fair bet that many younger people have little or no understanding of the scope of the holocaust. And in the current atmosphere of hate and social networking, misunderstanding and lies can easily lead to violence.
January is an especially difficult month for many who survived the Auschwitz gas chambers as many were forced to walk long death marches before the camp was liberated on Jan. 27, 1945. Max Eisen, an author and public speaker survived Auschwitz and he knows the power of words. Eisen was deeply offended by the anti-Semitic tone of the mobs and the reference to the Nazi death camp.
“It started with words, and it ended in terrible places. We know where it ended,” Eisen said.
The hoodies cost just $19.95, reduced from $24.95. Teehands has stores in London, Oslo, Stockholm and locally at 300–392 E. 85th St., in the posh upper east side of New York City.
The shirt is listed on the Teehands website as a “weekly featured product.” You can also order a “MAGA Civil War January 6, 2021” cloth face mask for just $12.95, which is funny because don’t the Trumpers reject face masks as part of the Democratic hoax.
“You can gift it for mom, dad, papa, mommy, daddy, mama, boyfriend, girlfriend, grandpa, grandma, grandfather, grandmother, husband, wife, family, teacher,” says the Teehands website.
Teehands sells all kinds of tee-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, tank tops, mugs and face masks certain to agree with just about any point of view, from “Tax the Rich” to “Bergdorf Goodman” to “Don’t Negotiate with Racists,” “.22,.380,.9mm,.40, 45: Allfaster than dialing 911” and the always popular “Yas sure, you betcha, let’s have lefse” advertising the Norgwegian flatbread known as lefse.
Teehands is not the first company to pander to bigots. The giant Spanish international retailer, Zara, ran into serious criticism a few years back for selling children’s striped pajamas, emblazoned with what looks like a Jewish star, and looking for all my money like the clothing worn by concentration camp prisoners.
Then there was the Chinese fast fashion retail giant, Shein, that came under fire for selling a “metal pendant necklace” that appears to be a swastika, a Nazi hate symbol, for sale on their site. After uproar online, the necklace was removed.
KL Auschwitz was a concentration camp that operated from 1940–45. Its first prisoners were Poles and then a small group of Jews. In subsequent years prisoners of other nationalities and ethnicities were also sent there and from 1942 on, the vast majority murdered at Auschwitz were Jews. Other large groups of inmates and victims included the Poles, the Roma and Soviet prisoners of war.
“It started with words, and it ended in terrible places. We know where it ended.”