Virgin Store Pulls Nazi Doll
A doll depicting members of a Nazi SS combat division is photographed with all the accessories. (CP PHOTO/Richard Lam)
By JEREMY HAINSWORTH
A doll depicting members of a Nazi SS combat division is photographed with all the accessories. (CP PHOTO/Richard Lam)
VANCOUVER (CP) - Virgin Megastores apologized Monday for any harm that may have resulted from its outlets selling dolls portraying members of a Nazi SS combat division originally created to guard concentration camps.
In a statement, the company also said the dolls depicting members of the Totenkopf Division are no longer being stocked in its Vancouver store. While members of the division fought in Normandy in 1944, it was originally formed at Dachau, Germany, site of the first concentration camp outside Munich. The Totenkopf continued to guard camps until the end of the Second World War.
"Virgin Megastores does not actively promote ideologies, beliefs or political views that may be associated with the nature of its product offering," said the statement.
"While never intending to cause offence, the company wishes to apologize for any unintentional harm that this product item may have caused."
The sale of the dolls angered Holocaust survivors and the Canadian Jewish Congress, who called for the withdrawal of the figures.
The Nazi dolls were gone from the Vancouver store Sunday, but Virgin did not acknowledge the move until Monday. Nor did it say if the policy would cover other Virgin outlets.
"Virgin is currently reviewing its policy in relation to the replenishment of this product," the statement concluded.
The figure is part of a Second World War series from Plan-B Toys of Groveport, Ohio.
Plan-B co-president Chris Borman said earlier that the company did not set out to offend anyone with the dolls which were drawn from the video Call of Duty from Activision, but was just portraying the Totenkopf troops which fought in Normandy.
He said the Totenkopf figures were picked because "they've got the coolest gear. It makes for a cool figure."
Borman said his grandfathers had fought in Europe for his "right to make whatever I want."
Other figures in the doll series include several Waffen SS figures and a variety of U.S. airborne soldier figures as well as regular Wehrmacht troops.
On Monday, several of the American figures remained at the Vancouver Virgin outlet.
Dr. Robert Krell of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre was pleased to hear of the apology and that the figures had been removed.
But he said he was "truly astonished" to hear a company had actually devoted time to creating the figures.
"We are hoping to reach people with educational programs to alert them to the sensitivities surrounding what happened with Nazi Germany," said Krell, who spent several years hiding from the Nazis in Holland.
But, added Krell, the Totenkopf also captured and killed Canadian soldiers.
On May 26, 1940, a company of the Canadian Royal Norfolk Regiment surrendered to the 2nd Totenkopf Infantry Regiment under the command of SS Obersturmfuhrer Fritz Knoechlein.
The Canadians were lined up in the meadow along a barn wall. When the 99 prisoners were in position, two machine guns opened fire, killing 97 of them.
Knoechlein was hanged for war crimes in 1949.
"(The Canadians) were not treated according to the Geneva Convention," Krell said. "For someone at this particular company not to even think perhaps about . . . the American soldiers who suffered the same fate in liberating Europe from these monsters.
"That is appalling ignorance. It's frightening," Krell said. "I can't imagine what veterans must have thought."
The SS was the elite private army initially formed as a bodyguard for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler which was eventually commanded by Heinrich Himmler. Members had to meet Nazi racial purity standards.