News/Commentary

Auschwitz Memorial slams WWE for using stock concentrations camp photos for fight promotion

April 8, 2023 | | Print Article

The Auschwitz Memorial is reportedly upset with World Wrestling Entertainment (the WWE) over the WWE using stock photos of the Auschwitz concentration camp to promote a WrestleMania fight.

“The image appeared in a five-minute video introducing a WrestleMania 39 contest between stars Dominik and Rey Mysterio. The shot, which appeared in the pre-show ahead of the live broadcast, was used as b-roll accompanying Dominik’s comments about being a hardened criminal,” according to NPR.

“You think this is a game to me. I served hard time. And I survived,” Dominik said as footage of Auschwitz was displayed.

Watch the footage below:

The Auschwitz Memorial was apoplectic, to put it lightly.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The fact that Auschwitz image was used to promote a WWE match is hard to call ‘an editing mistake’. Exploiting the site that became a symbol of enormous human tragedy is shameless and insults the memory of all victims of Auschwitz,” the museum tweeted Wednesday.

Look:

In response, the WWE apologized and called the footage an error.

“We had no knowledge of what was depicted. As soon as we learned, it was removed immediately,” a spokesperson said in a statement to The Washington Post.

ADVERTISEMENT

“WWE replaced the image of Auschwitz with generic footage of barbed wire on later airings and reruns,” according to the Post.

The so-called “experts” have warned that the WWE’s use of the footage may have caused trauma for some.

“Using imagery associated with the Holocaust for essentially what is kind of entertainment purposes can be seen as minimizing what happened and failing to recognize how horrific it was,” Natalie Belsky, a history professor at the University of Minnesota at Duluth, told the Post.

Mehnaz Afridi, the director of Manhattan College’s Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center, concurred.

“What they’re using to garner support is kind of very offensive, especially to people who were in the death camps. But also it should be offensive to all of us. I mean, we’re using a death camp to rally people around a fight,” he said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Most members of the public appear to agree that the WWE’s mistake was a big one — big enough, in fact, that it may even warrant a lawsuit.

Look:

ADVERTISEMENT

But some defenders of the WWE did push back by arguing it was just a mistake and noting that it was a mistake that was fixed immediately.

“Obviously a mistake and whoever wrote this tweet knows this but it just trying to stir up controversy or trying to somehow make a quick buck. I know if I saw this image and was looking for prison photos I def wouldn’t know it was Auschwitz,” one defender tweeted.

The only problem is the WWE kind of has a history of doing such things. Last year, for example, the WWE mistakenly filed a trademark application to rename one of its wrestlers … after a Nazi officer.

“On Tuesday, Walter Hahn, who previously wrestled under the stylized name WALTER, announced in the ring that he should now be referred to as Gunther. … Five days prior to the in-ring announcement, the WWE successfully filed a trademark application for the ring name ‘Gunther Stark’ with the United States Patent and Trademark Office,” Insider reported at the time.

There was just one problem: Gunther Stark was the name of a notorious Nazi commander …

Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles