Auschwitz criticizes WWE for using concentration camp videotaping

News

by Olivia Land

April 7, 2023 | 1:38 p.m

Auschwitz Memorial called WWE this week after using a concentration camp image in a promotional video for The Showdown last weekend.

An image of the barbed wire fences and guard towers of the Polish concentration camp appeared in the pre-show clip of the WrestleMania match between father-son superstars Rey and Dominic Mysterio on April 2, CBS News reported.

“The fact that the Auschwitz image was used to promote a WWE match can hardly be called an ‘editorial error,’” he wrote on Twitter Wednesday.

“The exploitation of a site that has become a symbol of an immense human tragedy is disgraceful and insults the memory of all the victims of Auschwitz.”

Built in 1940, Auschwitz is one of the most iconic sites and memorials of the Holocaust.

At least a million people, mostly Jews, were murdered there in just five years.

The five-minute WWE video was used to tease a story before the match, NPR said.

Pictures emerged from the camp, along with an audio recording of Dominic Mysterio pretending to be an imprisoned criminal.

However, the image does not appear in the YouTube replay of the fight.

WWE issued a statement apologizing Friday, saying it was a “mistake.”

“We had no knowledge of what was being filmed. As soon as we became aware, it was immediately removed. We apologize for this error,” the statement said.