There are many things you can expect to see on your trip to your local Westfield. A food court? Sure. Some impatient shoppers madly dashing across the centre? All the time. A mullet or two? These days, absolutely. Nazi symbols on face masks, however, probably wouldn’t make the cut.
Masks made from fabric featuring the German Parteiadler (an eagle above a swastika) were on display in Westfield Miranda, in Sydney’s Shire region.
Aja James first noticed the Nazi imagery on the masks while she was shopping, and posted pics of them onto her Instagram account, which have since been shared across socials by other shocked individuals.
In her pictures posted on Insta, you can see three mannequins. One has a lovely plain-black mask on, one has a polka-dot mask on, and one is wearing a mask absolutely riddled with the German Parteiadler, which is an eagle above a swastika.
It goes without saying that one of these is not like the other.
“So, this morning at Westfield Miranda I walked past this store and admired their minimalist window display of mannequins wearing only masks… until I looked a little closer and realised the mask fabric features the symbol of the Nazi Party! Really Westfield? Sort it out,” James captioned the post.
The store was allegedly the clothing alterations and repair store Alterations for You, James told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“I was wrangling a hungry 3-year-old and a trolley at the time so didn’t get the name, but a quick check on the Westfield website revealed it is a store called Alterations for You,” James told PTV.
“I was so shocked. Not what you expect to see during any visit to the shops.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CL6cNxLBClC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
The image was shared on Twitter by Lindsay McDougall, and users displayed their disbelief in the comments. The fact that a Shire store would be so brazenly presenting such symbols is, naturally, something nobody could wrap their heads around.
https://twitter.com/doctormcdougall/status/1366880020308758530?s=20
“Straight up Parteiadler, the insignia of the Nazi Party (as opposed to the Reichsadler with the eagle facing the other way which is the insignia of Nazi Germany),” one user commented.
“So either they picked the first image they could find or they really knew what they were doing.”
Alterations for You were contacted for comment, but did not provide one.
A spokesperson for Westfield Miranda, however, has issued a statement on the matter.
“As soon as the centre was made aware, the team spoke with the retailer and it was immediately removed,” they said.
It is unclear as to how this happened, or why, but it’s likely this incident was a mistake.
So, is this alterations stores in Miranda being run by Nazis? Unlikely. But there are still so many questions as to how that mask made its way to the front of the store.
