A magazine published by budget airline easyJet has featured a fashion shoot with models posing at the Berlin Holocaust memorial.
The airline has apologised and withdrawn the November issue of its in-flight magazine, which featured the fashion shoot at the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
The shoot featured photographs of male and female models, wearing designer clothes, and posing in against the Memorial’s concrete blocks.
The Memorial’s Uwe Neumärker director told the New Statesman that he had not granted permission for the shoot in EasyJet Travellerto take place at the memorial.
He said that he “grants permissions only to projects which are related to the memorial, the Holocaust or some aspect of commemoration."
"The Foundation Memorial does not support commercial shoots, and fashion photography is considered to fall into this category.
"The Foundation Memorial will contact the easyJet airline company in writing in order to clarify the circumstances of the photo shoot."
He said that security staff found it impossible to monitor the whole site, due to its large size.
An easyjet spokesman said: “easyJet profusely apologises to anyone who may be offended by the inappropriate fashion photo shoot at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin featured in this month’s issue of the in-flight magazine.
“The magazine is produced by INK -- an external publishing house, and easyJet were not aware of the images until they appeared in print. As a consequence we are now reviewing our relationship with the publisher and are withdrawing this month’s issue from all flights.”
The publishing house INK issued a statement on its website which read: "INK Publishing sincerely apologises to anyone who may have been offended by the fashion shoot in the November issue of easyJet inflight, in which a model is photographed in front of Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial. Far from trivializing the Memorial, on the contrary the intention was to encourage passengers to visit for themselves.
"The aim of each monthly shoot is to highlight an easyJet destination and tell a relevant narrative. The shoot was intended to not only promote local design talent and the city itself, but to raise awareness. From an educational perspective, it is of the utmost importance that visitors to Berlin see the Jewish Museum (who gave us written permission to shoot in their grounds) and Holocaust Memorial first hand. We absolutely regret any offence caused."
The memorial, which is also known as the Field of Stelae, opened in 2005 and is located near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
