Zara Pulls Striped ‘Holocaust’ Shirt
In worst idea ever, Zara sells shirt similar to that of Nazi camp inmates. On Israeli site too http://t.co/Kqs3PfXq31 pic.twitter.com/PRuEfn6Wsr
— Oren Kessler (@OrenKessler) August 27, 2014
The international clothing chain Zara has apologized for offering for sale a blue and white striped shirt with a six –pointed yellow star on the chest.
The shirt, for toddler boys, is identified on the Zara Israel website as a “striped sheriff t-shirt,” but Israelis on social media have called it everything from poor taste to anti-Semitic.
The yellow star has the word sheriff cut out in small letters.
The company has removed the stock from its warehouses and plans to destroy it, according to the Israeli business daily Globes. The shirt also was available on Zara’s French, Albanian and Swedish websites.
“We express our sincere apologies for any hurt to our customers’ feelings,” the company said in a statement.
The shirt remained on the Zara Israel internet site as of early Wednesday afternoon.
In September 2007, Zara removed a handbag with swastikas embroidered in it. The handbags were manufactured in India and inspired by commonly used Hindu symbols, which include the swastika.
In 2009, the Spanish retailer removed Christmas trees from the windows of its stores in Israel after complaints from customers.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Anti-Defamation League made a statement about the shirt.
“The shirt emblazoned with the yellow star is in poor taste and is deeply offensive to Jews and Holocaust survivors. To anyone who knows their history, this kind of imagery should be off-limits. We welcome Zara’s recognition of the shirt’s potentially offensive imagery and removal from sale,” said ADL National Director and Holocaust survivor, Abe Foxman.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO