IPC – Sa, a French based firm, is distributing a detergent product under the infamous name “cyclone B,” the name of the gas used by the Nazis in order to exterminate Jews in death camps during the Holocaust, Matzav.com has learned.
In addition, the product with the problematic name is being used by the European Union’s cleaning contractor, and when informed about the matter, the EU immediately took measures to put it out of use.
The matter was brought to the attention of EJA General Director Rabbi Menachem Margolin, who was interviewed earlier today by German television and expressed deep condemnation of the horrible use of a name that is synonymous with extermination of Jews in Europe.
“This is horrible ignorance at best,” said Rabbi Margolin, expressing his surprise that the company did not know “the history of the name of its product.”
“No doubt that this is the most tainted name that a detergent can have,” he added.
{Gavriel Sitrit-Matzav.com Newscenter}
I thought it was ZYKLON B…. cyclone is a type of storm.
Zyklon is German for cyclon. The infamous substance was originally marketed as insecticide / antiseptic, e.g. to treat clothing infested by lice and the pests lice carry; hence the name. I can understand ignorance (perhaps copywriter is Chinese or anyway unfamiliar with European history) but the manufacturer should have immediately changed the name, it is inexcusable not to do so.