Estonian Gas Company Uses Auschwitz Image
An Estonian gas company used a photo of Auschwitz to advertise their products.
The website of the Estonian company GasTerm Eesti on Aug. 23 published a photograph of the front gate of the Nazi camp Auschwitz with the famous inscription “Arbeit macht frei,” or work makes you free. The caption of the photo read: “Gas heating – flexible, convenient, and effective.”
The next day the photo was removed from the company’s website and an apology was posted there.
Company director Sven Linros said, according to DzD.ee portal, “Hitler killed himself because he got a gas bill … a lot of people laugh at this, but I do not. I visited Auschwitz with dread. I feel sorry for the victims and their families. The picture was intended for a narrow group of people. We wanted to clarify that the CH4 gas is not toxic and can be used to heat buildings even those with such a sad history.”
This is not the first case of Auschwitz pictures being used in advertisements. In January, a gym in Dubai used an image from Auschwitz with the tag line “Kiss your calories goodbye.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
