Let’s get something straight – it’s never okay to joke about the holocaust.
It began with Einsatzgruppen death squads which killed roughly 1 million people in a number of massacres and continued in concentration camps where prisoners were actively denied proper food and healthcare.
It culminated in the construction of extermination camps – government facilities, the entire purpose of which was the systematic murder and disposal of massive numbers of people, most of them, Jewish.
Perhaps one of the most disturbing terms used by the Nazis to designate the human beings that they deemed unworthy of life was Lebensunwertes Leben, or “life unworthy of life”.
Now that we have some of the horrifying facts down, you can see why we have some serious issues with local brand Mevrou & Co., and a recent post of theirs on Instagram.
The company’s description promises “crunchy, classic, unisex tees proudly made in South Africa”. “If you like us”, they say, “tell your friends”.
They supposedly create a “feel-good product that celebrates South Africa’s togetherness as opposed to otherness”.
There’s nothing proudly South African, or ‘feel good’ about his post:
The above post, which was first published in English, then Afrikaans, translates as: “What do Afrikaners and Jews have in common other than small gene pools, nowhere to run to and concentration camps?”
It’s bad on so many levels.
The backlash has been swift from their followers on Instagram:
Despite these, and countless other angry comments on the post, at the time of writing, it is still on their Instagram account.
As lyndylu points out in her comment above – this is disgusting.
The post also provoked a proactive response from Nuri Gallow at Squishy Tushy. Nuri has made t-shirts inspired by a misspelled post by Mevrou & Co., which she is marketing via Instagram and Facebook.
One of their posts has the word ‘Regrettably’ misspelled as ‘Regretively’, it’s so stupid that it’s hilarious and I saw a gap and decided to use it to the advantage of the people affected.
All of the proceeds, minus the cost of materials, will go to the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre.
You can find those t-shirts here and here.
As for Mevrou & Co. – I don’t like them, and I won’t be telling my friends.
