According to photos snapped by an L.A. County native studying abroad in Canada, one popular Montreal boutique may be profiting off history’s most notorious dictator. Various T-shirts printed with the likeness of Adolf Hitler were discovered today by Sierra Holtz, a former teacher in Israel (and friend of mine) who’s now majoring in Jewish Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Holtz said she was browsing T-shirts at a clothing boutique in Montreal this Tuesday afternoon when she noticed one shirt with a particularly odd print. She posted a photo of it to Facebook, and wrote:
Today my friend and I entered a cute boutique on Rue Mont Royal where we were casually shopping for clothes. What I found on the rack was extremely disturbing. There were many different shirts with pictures of Adolf Hitler and a tag that read “Too fast to live, too young to die”. When I asked the clerk why they were selling these shirts she responded with, “People like them, they sell well”. The fact that “Hitler” is becoming a trend is very alarming, scary, and very wrong. Either people are ignorant of what he represents, or support what he stands for. When will it stop? So I am asking you, Jewish or not, to share this to stop the spread of antisemitism that still exists today.
She now tells the Journal that the boutique in question is called Hadio, and is located “on the plateau in Montreal, a place where a lot of students live.” In addition to the black-and-white portrait of Hitler’s head and torso, Holtz said the store was carrying a print of Hitler in his uniform — only the swastika on his arm had been replaced by a heart. She said another print showed him lying on his stomach, naked, above the word “Holiday.” (Photo here.) All the shirts were tagged with the phrase “Too fast to live, too young to die.” It’s unclear whether the tag represented a clothing brand of that name, or if the message was meant to supplement the image. Either way, it’s an unfortunate union. “I don’t understand what they are thinking when they’re selling that — when they approve it,” Holtz said. “I don’t see how there could be a deeper meaning.” When she left the store, Holtz said, “I just felt really sick. I felt for the first time, in the moment, the hatred of the Jews over 2,000 years. And when I got home, I literally just burst into tears. I finally understood what it was like to feel anti-Semitism.” And of the store employee who she originally brought her concerns to, Holtz said: “She expressed to me that she didn’t approve of the shirts personally, but that she had no control over it.” Shirts available on the Hadio boutique’s web site are stamped with more peace-loving idols like Bob Marley, Jimmy Hendrix and Kurt Cobain. They’ve also got some dirtier stuff — like Snow White flashing panty — but nothing as openly offensive as a romantic hero’s bust of a genocidal monster. Hadio is closed right now, so no one is available to answer calls for comment. I’ll post their response as soon as I get one. Update, Oct. 15, 1:15 p.m.: The phone line at Hadio now appears to be down. Holtz said she delivered a letter to the manager this morning and brought a news crew along, at which point Hadio closed its doors for the day. Perhaps they’ll take the opportunity to stash all that Hitler apparel in the back before they’ve got a Zara-sized PR disaster on their hands.
Jewish Journal
Poster Comment:
I guess Jews aren't as popular as they think.
