Criticism of Nazi books on sale – Kaufland reaction makes customers angry
Created: 10/11/2022 2:19 PM
By: Dominik Jahn
Kaufland reacts only hesitantly to the offer for Nazi books © dpa/Kaufland
The grocer Kaufland is currently very much in the criticism.
Numerous right-wing extremist books are available on the online marketplace.
Kaufland would probably like to avoid this discussion: The food giant is heavily criticized for its right-wing literature.
It was not until March 2020 and October 2021 that a right-wing extremist magazine on the supermarket shelf caused trouble, as
echo24.de
reported.
Kaufland | |
|---|---|
founding | Neckarsulm 1984 |
Headquarters | Neckarsulm |
sales\t | 27.3 billion euros |
Numerous Nazi books are now for sale on Kaufland's online marketplace.
The reactions on the net are clear.
The company's statement leaves a lot to be desired for many customers.
Statement by Kaufland on the range of Nazi books
Criticism of Kaufland has been increasing on Twitter in recent days.
The company from the Schwarz Group recently banned products with the Antifa logo from its online shop, but at the same time left books by right-wing authors in its range.
Kaufland customers reacted indignantly and vented their anger on Friday.
Users were upset that the right-wing extremist magazine "Compact" could still be found in many branches of the supermarket chain.
The following statement left numerous consumers rather stunned.
Statement by Kaufland on Twitter
There is a lot of criticism here because we sell right-wing extremist magazines, but then block left-wing extremist merch on our marketplace.
To put it bluntly: we at Kaufland reject extreme opinions.
They are detrimental to discourse and detrimental to democracy.
That's why we ban extreme products where we can.
It's easier with the marketplace, but we haven't had any success with the magazines despite intensive efforts.
Nevertheless, we stay on the topic.
What must be clear to all of us, however, is that this is not about “You leave the right issue in, then you must also leave the left flags on offer.” And not everything that we might consider wrong is also prohibited.
Wherever we can, we exercise our right to promptly delist such products.
But sometimes the legislature simply stipulates that a democracy must endure certain products (eg magazines) because the good of press freedom is higher.
In short: We read what you write.
Always.
We too condemn extreme viewpoints and we try to avoid having related products sold by us.
Tweet about "Mein Kampf" forces Kaufland to act
At Kaufland, however, the tweet from Leo Schneider, chairman of the youth organization of the SPD in Hamburg-Nord, caused some movement.
In various posts, Schneider showed how easy it is to get right-wing extremist books via the grocer's online marketplace.
Among other things, "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler can be found there.
also read
Lack of staff and high energy costs: the bakery chain no longer opens on Sundays and public holidays
"... when you order your dirt": DPD customer finds unabashed message
Just a few hours after the posts, some of the Nazi books by right-wing extremist authors had disappeared from Kaufland's online shop.
Other books, according to Der Spiegel, among others, were still available.
Kaufland did not want to comment on the question of "why books by right-wing extremists were available on the platform unnoticed for so long".
In the coming days, however, they want to put processes and the “range to the test and decide whether and which other products” will be removed from the range.