Wal-Mart Pulls T-Shirt With Nazi Logo

It is unfortunate that Wal-Mart never did it’s own
homework on such a matter.

Thanks go to the “outsider” who made this finding,
and forced Wal-Mart to pull this item.

Has this sort of thing ever happened before?

You’ld think Bentonville, with all of it’s computerized
technology, would do a better job of seeing these
things before they happen.

Just hit the news tonight.  A tv station news just did a story on the shirt that Walmart had on its shelf. Sure enough it was the waffen ss symbol that is on the shirt Walmart was selling.
They had the two of them side by side.
Just another Bentonville blow up.

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Das ist nicht gut! Yes, there’s no mistaking it, that is the SS deaths head emblem; the worst of the worst in Nazi Germany! The emblem was worn on the visor caps of officers in the war crime riddled military division of the SS, the Waffen-SS. It was also worn on the visor caps of Gestapo officers, all the way down to concentration camp officers as well. Basically, if you were not in the regular German Armed Forces (Wermacht), you wore the black SS uniform, displaying the deaths head emblem on your visor cap. Seeing that the deaths head emblem is not as well known as the swastika or the SS sig runes, the Wal-Mart merchandise purchaser may not of known of it’s origin. However, their supplier knew damn good and well where it came from!

This is just plain stupidity on Wal-Mart’s part. These shirts never should have made it to shelves.  Moreover, it should not have taken four days to remove them after the problem was brought to the company’s attention. Idiotic mistakes like these are the reasons Wal-Mart is having so much trouble with its image.

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I’m definitely not one of Wal-Mart’s biggest fans by any means (far from it), but I think this has been blown out of proportion. Seems like a stupid, innocent mistake to me. I didn’t know that the symbol held any malignant meaning, and had it not been pointed out by knowledgeable folks, I imagine it would have flown under the radar. Good for those who caught it, and good for Wal-Mart for correcting it quickly. But I don’t think this is worth making heads roll.

Gotta agree...People are making WAYYY too much of a big deal about this. True the image is the same as that used by the SS totenkopf (deathshead) divisions. But after WWII even some of our own Army units in Vietnam had adopted the insignia. Bikers have worn this symbol for decades. IMO its meaning has become more synonymous with pop culture than anything the Germans once used it to symbolize.

Whats next Wal-mart??? Banning Kiss records coz their logo has 2 S’s in the shape of SS runes. Come on....

FYI, the totenkopf/"death’s head” emblem was used by German Hussars (cavalry) through the 19th century… long before the SS were even conceived. The SS was a relative late-comer who appropriated the totenkopf from history.

Oh, come off it.  How many of you investigate every item you see?  Wal mart sells thousands of things.  I would blame the manufacturers of the shirt.

I am looking at the picture posted and I had no idea that it was a nazi symbol.  Since skulls are popular this year, it is only a matter of luck that I don’t own one.

Now if it was the traditional nazi symbol then I would understand but to expect the average person to recognize this is just silly.

I can’t believe what i read here…

This lack of culture is astonishing and unacceptable!
And it’s not a problem of reminding the names of the 3 most important French Impressionists or what Michelangelo painted in Rome…

If you just don’t remember that, for people in Europe, that emblem means over 8.000.000 men, women and children killed by soldier wearing that sign, total descruction, famine and the latest personification of evil on earth, you are completely brainless…

It would be just like if anybody from Europe, coming to the US, sees a procession of people wearing white, high, pointy hats burning crosses and says something like “what an expression of american vitality! must be a happy fair! let’s take some pictures to show to our kids back home!"…

Do you like it? Don’t think so…

Ask your granpas that came over here during the WWII to free us from those (...) wearing that skull on a hat what this image means for them, maybe you will understand something.

But maybe I’m overestimating things here, maybe the words “understand”, “history”, “remember” are no longer thought in your schools…

Ps
I love the U.S. and I came over quite often, but every time see-read things like these I’m worried of how you people ignore the rest of the world and its history…

I have a request for the people that say this same skull was used by groups other then the German Nazi SS.  Please show me an example of this specific image being used by Army units in Vietnam or some other group.  Some other group that is using it not because of it’s Nazi heritage, but because of some other reason.

Please.

If you can show me an example of this specific image being used by anyone other then the Nazi SS, I will be more then happy to post a retraction on my site.  Really.

I get loads of emails from people far smarter then me telling me this, yet they either refuse to show me an example, or they show me an image of a generic white skull that looks nothing like this specific image. 

Believe me when I say that I am no expert in Nazi history, nor do I want to me.  It’s just that when I saw this specific t-shirt on display at my local Wal-Mart in the young men’s department, I had never seen this specific image used by anyone other then the Nazi SS, skinheads, or neo-Nazis.

Rick in MD needs to calm down and realize that this image has meaning only in the eyes of the beholder. Do we ban everthing that a few people find offensive? This PC movement is getting way out of hand.

1. I see no need for insults to anyone’s education/culture etc. I hold a bachelor’s degree in History, primarily in Western history, and I have studied the time period in question, and yet I did not know the meaning of this symbol. Does that mean that my education was somehow “substandard?” I don’t think so. No student of history can know everything.

Furthermore, I would ask our European friends to remember that, while we share much in culture, we also have many differences. For example, despite sharing a language, Brits and Americans use completely different sets of vulgarities. Despite sharing many terrible experiences, we are bound to remember them differently. Some symbols and images hold different meanings from one side of “The Pond” to the other. An image of the World Trade Center or an image of Japanese pilots attacking Pearl Harbor surely does not provoke the same response in you as it does us. In some ways, no matter how much education we receive, there are some things we may never truly understand - that goes both ways.

2. I stand by my earlier statement on this matter: I am glad that this error was caught and I am glad that Wal-Mart has taken steps to correct the problem once it was brought to their attention. I did say earlier that I saw no need for anyone to lose their job over this, and I stand by that, but with one caveat - if it is found that someone used this image deliberately to promote Nazism, fascism, racism, etc - then I would definitely support their termination.

3. Should we ban everything that a few find offensive? No. This goes against the First Amendment of the United States Constitution (which has been sullied enough of late as is). However, at the same time, a wise man once said that “with great power comes great responsibility.” Wal-Mart has the freedom to produce this shirt, and you have the freedom to wear it, but that does not make it right or ethical to do either! There are certainly limits to political correctness - I agree with George Carlin’s arguments about sanitized speech - but symbols of hatred and unadulterated evil have no place in a civilized society.

This is all just the Wal-Mart hating unions (they are shut out) grinding their axes.

Shirts like this are sold at other stores, online and off. But the second the locked out union people find out that Wal-Mart is/was selling it. Wham!

Hi Rick. I’ve read your post asking for an example of the death’s head or Totenkopf used prior to WWII, so here it is…
http://www.aefl.de/ordld/AK-Cadinen071204/cadinen3/cadinen.3.htm

The Totenkopf is remembered for the NAZI SS but it’s previous use as a symbol of the Prussian cavalry (here shown under the command of the Kronprinz) is largely forgotten. The same is true for the swastika. This is also an old symbol co-opted by the NAZI movement. It’s a shame really. The swastika actually adorned many American fighter planes in the First World War and stretches back through ancient history and across cultures. It will be a long time indeed before these symbols loose their power and I for one look forward to that.

Though I see this shirt as being particularly tacky and in bad taste, I also see a once feared symbol of hate being reduced to a $10.99 t-shirt in America’s tackiest store. I wouldn’t want one, but I’m happy to see the degradation of it’s power. Symbols only have power if we give it to them.

Rick, you wanted “an example of this specific image being used by anyone other then the Nazi SS” here’s a few places to start:

HUSSARS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenkopf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Knoe02_von_Reutsch_Husaren.jpg

http://news.webshots.com/photo/1269190563015913979ExefuO

http://news.webshots.com/photo/1269190563015913979ExefuO

http://news.webshots.com/photo/1223492850015913979jePkKZ

BRITISH INSIGNIA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen's_Royal_Lancers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:17th_Lancers_badge.jpg

If I recall correctly, the WWII German panzer units also wore the death’s head/totenkopf on thier uniforms, whether they were SS panzer units or Heer/army panzer units, so again, it’s not accurate to state that the totenkopf is strictly an SS emblem...it’s got ties to tank/panzer crewmen, 19th century hussars, and even the the British Royal Lancers.
Besides, it’s just a t-shirt...nothing to get anybodies’ panties in a knot over.

Ummmm.....Rick?  Where are you?  Where is your retraction???

Where is your retraction?????

Where is your retraction?????

Where is your retraction?????

Where is your retraction?????

Rick...are you out there??

Just to let you know: in Germany the use of ALL the emblem, flags, uniforms and everything connected with the nazi period is forbidden by the Constitution.

In Italy, the roman hail, the emblem, flags and the reconstitution of the fascist party is forbidden by the Constitution.

I checked the links up above, the deadskull shown IS NOT the one on that ‘damn t-shirt.

The fact that special corps of diffrent armies use a skull as their emblem is quite common and understandable (they are trained to kill, what else should they choose? Flower Power?).

The one involved in this quarrel is a nazi sign.

Period.

Ain’t it great to have freedom of speech and freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution? If you don’t like what you see, don’t buy it. It’s that simple. And if you’re so easily offended, perhaps you should poke out your eyes. And while you’re at it, let’s eliminate everything that’s ever offended anyone. You offend me, I likely offend you, pork offends the muslims, fur coats offend the PETA people (and PETA people offend me), rude sales clerks offend a lot of people, guns offend peaceniks and liberals, liberals offend Republicans, gays offend heterosexuals, ....where do we stop? You’re an adult, I presume, so you have the power to choose to ignore something that offends you, and as a consumer you have the ability to not purchase something you find offensive.

But I digress… “Totenkopf” means “death’s head”; literally ...a skull with or without crossbones. For what it’s worth, the one depicted on Walmart’s t-shirt is not identical to the one most commonly used on the SS uniforms either. Learn some history. Oh, I almost forgot: 
Period.

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I asked for an example of this exact skull being used before WW2.  Not to generic skulls.  Not to skulls that sort of kind of looked like it if you tilted your head and squinted your eyes when you looked at it.

I was looking for an exact match.  For instance, like how the image on the Wal-Mart t-shirts was an exact copy of the skull worn by the Nazi SS. 

So that means no retraction.  Even something that sort of kind of looks like a retraction.