4 years ago, he stormed the Capitol wearing a Camp Auschwitz sweatshirt. Where is he now?
Copycat versions of the offensive outfit are still online, including as a baby onesie
Robert Keith Packer is seen wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt at the riot on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Courtesy of the Department of Justice
By Benyamin Cohen January 6, 2025
A joint session of Congress has peacefully certified President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election on Jan. 6, the date federally mandated. But four years ago, after President Joe Biden won, the U.S. Capitol was overrun with people aiming to prevent a smooth transition of power.
Standing out among the mob of rioters was a long-haired, bearded man in a black hoodie. The words “Camp Auschwitz” were emblazoned across the front.
Who was the ‘Camp Auschwitz’ rioter?
Robert Keith Packer, a former pipefitter and unlicensed plumber from Newport News, Virginia, gained national attention for wearing the sweatshirt. It had “STAFF” printed on the back, and a drawing of a skull and the phrase “Work Brings Freedom,” a translation of the slogan at the entrance of Auschwitz concentration camp, on the front. The hoodie drew widespread condemnation.
“Why the instant notoriety?” asked the Forward’s Irene Katz Connelly the day after the attack. “Observers may have been reacting to the eeriness of seeing an awful idea expressed through an object whose positive associations are immediately recognizable to broad swathes of Americans. The vacation hoodie, in its many iterations, tends to evoke athletic pursuits and bodies of water.”
Packer, who spent 36 minutes inside the Capitol, was arrested a week after the riot. When the FBI interviewed him about the outfit, he said he wore it because it was cold. Underneath the sweatshirt, he was wearing a “Schutzstaffel” shirt, referring to Adolf Hitler’s SS paramilitary unit.
The sweatshirt was indicative of a larger trend
Packer’s shirt stood out for its audacity, but it was not the only antisemitic symbol on display that day. Some people were also marching with a flag of Kekistan, a fake country created by members of the alt-right. The flag resembles a Nazi swastika. There was also imagery of Pepe the Frog, a cartoon amphibian which was co-opted by extremist groups and which the Anti-Defamation League labeled a hate symbol.
In the weeks leading up to the riot, the ADL reported on a Washington, D.C., demonstration of the Proud Boys, a far-right militant group, who were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the initials 6MWE, short for “Six Million Wasn’t Enough.”
The nooses displayed during the insurrection evoke the “Day of the Rope,” described in the 1978 white supremacist novel The Turner Diaries by William Luther Pierce. The book is often regarded as a blueprint for far-right extremists and antisemites, and has been cited as an inspiration for various acts of violence — including the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 and the 1984 murder of Alan Berg, a Jewish radio host.
How was Packer charged?
Packer, who was 56 at the time of the riot, was arrested and charged with unlawfully entering the Capitol and engaging in disorderly conduct. Federal police who conducted a search of his home found a whole host of Nazi and other white supremacist material, including “swastika artwork” and an “image of Hitler.”
Hoping for lenient sentencing, Packer’s sister said you can’t “judge a book by its cover.” Packer’s lawyer, Stephen Brennwald, compared his client to Forrest Gump, “a man who went through life almost as if he was outside of his body and mind, looking in.” Brennwald also argued that Packer’s sentence should be set by his actions, not his attire.
In Sep. 2022, a federal judge sentenced Packer to 75 days in jail and ordered him to pay $500 in restitution.
Where is Packer now?
Packer’s trail seems to have gone dark since he served his sentence in September 2022. News outlets stopped reporting on him. And he doesn’t appear to have a public profile on mainstream social media sites. A request for an update from his lawyer was not returned.
The last time the Department of Justice updated their case file on Packer was in June 2023, when he tried to appeal his sentence, arguing that the “court erroneously considered the offensive T-shirt in fashioning the prison sentence.” The judge ruled it “moot” since Packer had already completed his prison term.
In the years since, President-elect Trump has recast Jan. 6, 2021, as a “day of love” and has vowed to pardon the rioters.
Are Camp Auschwitz sweatshirts still around?
Yes and no.
Packer may have brought the Camp Auschwitz sweatshirt to the public’s attention, but it has been around for over a decade, according to an extremism expert at the ADL. Copycat versions popped up online shortly after Packer wore it, but were taken down after complaints. A search today on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart and Zazzle found none available. A couple of off-brand sites are still offering Camp Auschwitz attire — including a tank top and a baby onesie.
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