According to The New York Times, the disturbing merchandise was first discovered by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland, which shared images of the products to their 784,000-plus followers on Twitter. The merchandise in question included Christmas ornaments, a mouse pad, and a bottle opener emblazoned with photographs of Auschwitz.

By late Sunday evening, the products featuring images of the concentration camp — where a million Jews are estimated to have been killed — were no longer available on the website.

Selling “Christmas ornaments” with images of Auschwitz does not seem appropriate. Auschwitz on a bottle opener is rather disturbing and disrespectful. We ask @amazon to remove the items of those suppliers. https://t.co/0uG2JG558e pic.twitter.com/ucZoTWPk1W — Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) December 1, 2019

Selling “Christmas ornaments” with images of Auschwitz does not seem appropriate. Auschwitz on a bottle opener is rather disturbing and disrespectful. We ask @amazon to remove the items of those suppliers. https://t.co/0uG2JG558e pic.twitter.com/ucZoTWPk1W

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) December 1, 2019

The products featuring the images of Auschwitz — which received more than two million visitors in 2017 — appeared on the products page of a seller offering ornaments with other popular tourist destinations around the world. Some users have pointed out the Auschwitz products might have been the unfortunate result of an automatic algorithm that transfers photos of these tourist sites onto various products.

Auschwitz Memorial/TwitterA bottle opener brandishing a photo of Auschwitz, where a million Jews were killed, was being sold for $12.99.

“I don’t think it is, for example, a technical error,” McCabe said. “I think they were flagged. They just weren’t reviewed in a timely manner.” McCabe also noted that the repeat of such cases is a sign of the company’s reactive approach rather than it being proactive on the matter.

The controversy over the Auschwitz-adorned items is just one of many examples that point to the company’s lack of adequate oversight of third-party sellers and the kinds of products that they put up on its platform for sale. Altogether, these products account for about half of all merchandise sold on the site.

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) December 2, 2019