Saturday, January 12, 2008

Nicht Rauchen macht Freiheit?

T-shirt using a yellow Star of David to liken the treatment of smokers in Germany to that of Jews during Nazi rule has angered German Jews.

A black T-shirt with a yellow Star of David with the writing "Raucher" (smoker), that is offered in the internet. The T-shirt uses the yellow Star of David to liken the treatment of smokers in Germany to that of Jews during Nazi rule has angered German Jews.
Photo: AP

Earlier this week, after several German states introduced sweeping bans on smoking in restaurants and bars an events planner called DMP started offering the T-shirt for sale on its Web site.

Jewish groups responded with outrage.

The operator of the Web site said on Friday that he had not sold any of the shirts and that it was a publicity stunt gone awry.

The only publicity it generated was from the angry response of German Jews; and it got the attention of public prosecutors who were investigating whether the shirt broke any laws.

"This is an absolute abuse of the Jewish genocide," the deputy president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dieter Graumann, said Thursday. "It is a scandal to exploit the murder of the Jews in order to symbolize the people's desire to smoke."

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