French supermarket chain Auchan apologises over swastika bags
French supermarket chain Auchan has admitted that it had sold military-style bum bags, or fanny packs as they are known in the US, bearing the Nazi swastika at its Polish stores in what it called an "oversight".
"Our 2018 product offerings did indeed include these bags from a Polish manufacturer, though our chain wasn't aware of it," Auchan Poland spokeswoman Dorota Patejko told AFP.
"It was an oversight on our part, a situation that we regret," she said, adding that the group was currently checking stores nationwide and would recall any of the bags left in stock.
"Only one bag with the Nazi symbol has been located so far. It's been pulled from shelves."
The Gazeta Krakowska regional daily on Monday reported the case of a woman who bought one of the products in an Auchan store in the southern city of Krakow.
An Auchan supermarket in Kraków was discovered selling bags with a Nazi swastika on them, which is illegal in Poland. The French firm says that the Polish supplier printed the symbol on around a tenth of the bags, which have now been withdrawn from sale https://t.co/f46L9ieHk0 pic.twitter.com/DfQtGj8ncv
— Notes from Poland ?? (@notesfrompoland) 2 April 2019
"It's sewn out of camouflage fabric and has various bits of text," the client said, adding that she only recently realised there was a small swastika on it.
"I'm in shock. I've been walking around with a purse with a Nazi symbol for weeks," she said told the paper.
"I never would have thought a supermarket chain would sell something like this."
Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany in World War Two and its current laws forbid the reproducing of the Nazi swastika.
The propagation of Nazi ideology is punished by a fine or up to two years in prison.
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"Our 2018 product offerings did indeed include these bags from a Polish manufacturer, though our chain wasn't aware of it," Auchan Poland spokeswoman Dorota Patejko told AFP.
"It was an oversight on our part, a situation that we regret," she said, adding that the group was currently checking stores nationwide and would recall any of the bags left in stock.
"Only one bag with the Nazi symbol has been located so far. It's been pulled from shelves."
The Gazeta Krakowska regional daily on Monday reported the case of a woman who bought one of the products in an Auchan store in the southern city of Krakow.
An Auchan supermarket in Kraków was discovered selling bags with a Nazi swastika on them, which is illegal in Poland. The French firm says that the Polish supplier printed the symbol on around a tenth of the bags, which have now been withdrawn from sale https://t.co/f46L9ieHk0 pic.twitter.com/DfQtGj8ncv
— Notes from Poland ?? (@notesfrompoland) 2 April 2019
"It's sewn out of camouflage fabric and has various bits of text," the client said, adding that she only recently realised there was a small swastika on it.
"I'm in shock. I've been walking around with a purse with a Nazi symbol for weeks," she said told the paper.
"I never would have thought a supermarket chain would sell something like this."
Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany in World War Two and its current laws forbid the reproducing of the Nazi swastika.
The propagation of Nazi ideology is punished by a fine or up to two years in prison.
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