Berlin-Disturbing products available on German Amazon include military-style T-shirts praising the Wehrmacht Tiger tank, or calling Third Reich soldiers "the fast troops" or calling for "resistance". Such garments are advertised with words like revolution, uprising, putsch, German Reich, glory and honour. Fan T-shirts of the far-right band Landser can also be found at the e-commerce giant, as well as a shirt showing the geographical outline of Germany bearing the slogan: "Heimatliebe ist kein Verbrechen" ("Love of one's homeland is not a crime").
The toy section also has products that boggle the mind: Lego Wehrmacht officers and Third Reich machine-gunners. A Lego-style Wehrmacht general - complete with imperial eagle and the Iron Cross - goes for €13.90.
Amazon criticised for far-right products
Although there are no swastikas on the toys and T-shirts, it's clear which target group such products are aimed at. Two years ago, the company was sharply criticised for selling such items. Josef Schuster of Germany's Central Council of Jews called on Amazon to stop offering them. Schuster said at time that it was "completely unacceptable that T-shirts and stickers that glorify Nazi figures or far-right ideas or incite hatred of minorities are sold over Amazon."
It is true that under the menu tab "Category, Product and Content Restrictions" the German Amazon site notes that "The sale of products that glorify, support or justify National Socialism or an unconstitutional organisation, including all products with symbols of unconstitutional organisations (e.g. products with a swastika or SS runes) (§ 86, 86a Criminal Code), is prohibited." According to Amazon, this also includes "products that justify or glorify the Third Reich, Nazi ideology including its policy of racism or war".
Meistgelesene Artikel
Obviously, compliance with these guidelines is insufficiently controlled, as plenty of far-right items are still being sold on the site.