A Swiss retailer apologized Wednesday for selling coffee creamers with the likeness of German dictator Adolf Hitler on the label and acknowledged it had withdrawn roughly 2,000 containers from dozens of cafes.
Migros said that the “unforgivable incident” occurred because of an internal failure. A spokesperson, Tristan Cerf, told the New York Times that an outside company had asked a Migros subsidiary, ELSA, to provide it with 55 varieties of coffee cream containers based on vintage cigar labels. Two types featured Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini, Cerf said: “Usually the labels have pleasant images like trains, landscapes and dogs — nothing polemic that can pose a problem.”
The scandalous creamers were spotted months after a German furniture chain claimed it unintentionally ordered 5,00 coffee mugs with faint portraits of Hitler on them from a trade fair in China.
A Brutal Pageantry: The Third Reich's Myth-Making Machinery, in Color
Adolf Hitler salutes troops of the Condor Legion who fought alongside Spanish Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, during a rally upon their return to Germany, 1939.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNazi rally, 1937.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNazi and Italian flags draped from balconies to welcome Adolf Hitler during state visit to Italy, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesVolkswagen Works cornerstone ceremony, near Wolfsburg, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNuremberg, Germany, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesCrowds cheering Adolf Hitler's campaign to unite Austria and Germany, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesScene along roadway to the Fallersleben Volkswagen Works cornerstone ceremony, Germany, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNazi officials on their way to Fallersleben Volkswagen Works cornerstone ceremony, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAdolf Hitler at the swearing-in of SS standard bearers at the Reich Party Congress, Nuremberg.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesReich Party Congress, Nuremburg, Germany, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images1937 Reich Party Congress, Nuremberg, Germany.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesLeague of German Girls dancing during the 1938 Reich Party Congress, Nuremberg, Germany.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesReich Veterans Day, 1939.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesBerlin illuminated at midnight in honor of Hitler's 50th birthday, April 1939.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAdolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels (in box) at Charlottenburg Theatre, Berlin, 1939.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAnnual midnight swearing-in of SS troops at Feldherrnhalle, Munich, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAdolf Hitler makes keynote address at Reichstag session, Kroll Opera House, Berlin, 1939.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesReich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels speaking at the Lustgarten in Berlin, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesVolkswagen Works cornerstone ceremony, near Wolfsburg, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAdolf Hitler speaking at the Lustgarten, Berlin, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesReich Party Congress, Nuremberg, Germany, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
