Hoelzer Reich's Nazi-esque shirts make way to UFC and Spike TV

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Holzer-Reich-s-Nazi-esque-shirts-make-way-to-UFC


Cagewriter Mon Dec 07, 2009 2:30 pm EST

Hoelzer Reich's Nazi-esque shirts make way to UFC and Spike TV
By Maggie Hendricks

If you thought you saw some disturbing imagery in the Octagon on Saturday night, your eyes did not deceive you. In his loss to Marc Bocek, Joe Brammer wore a walk-in shirt from Hoelzer Reich, a clothing company who has come under fire for having Nazi-esque symbols on their clothing.

Brammer's shirt has iron crosses all over it, a symbol associated with the Third Reich. Hoelzer Reich has also sold shirts with the SS symbol used by Nazis during World War II and other images used by the Third Reich. Even the skulls on the shirts -- ubiquitous on MMA gear -- are carbon copies of the skulls that were on SS uniforms.

If Brammer wants to wear this shirt down Main St., he is free to do so. The First Amendment guarantees him that right. But free speech does not mean consequence-free speech. Fighters shouldn't be able to wear shirts into the Octagon (and make sponsor money from broadcasts) that promote something so hurtful and offensive.

Hoelzer Reich's defenders -- including Strikeforce fighter Lyle "Fancypants" Beerbohm -- say that the clothing only promotes German-American pride, and as a German-American, that offends me more than anything. I am proud to be German, and live in a traditionally German area of Chicago. We are all able to show our pride in Deutschland without paying homage to such a dark part of history.

The UFC has banned clothing from the Octagon because of squabbles with clothing companies, or because of contract disputes with fighters. They need to take a stand on this, and not allow Hoelzer Reich clothing on a UFC or WEC fighter.

Here is the shirt that was worn out there



Here are some shirts from this company

Spoiler

 

and here is another good one

Spoiler

the craziest thing is that hoelzer reich and its supporters keep trying to act like the shirts aren't drawn directly from the nazi imagery. they have come out with statements saying they are only supporting their german heritage and people keep acting like they aren't full of ****. many of their shirts would get them arrested in germany.

btw the german in the picture above says "The Fourth Reich Has Begun".

 

not about him speaking his mind. it's about educating people. it's amazing the debate that has gone on over on some mma boards. people are just outright denying the imagery is nazi related. also, i didn't think many mma supporters would see it in D&D. further, some of the fighters who were signed by this company weren't educated enough to realize what they were representing. i talked to one of them who was mentioned in the article, lyle beerbohm, and he said he signed with them because he desperately needed the money and they agreed not to put any of the nazi related stuff on his clothing.

also the ufc uk has come out with a statement saying that hoelzer reich is in no way antisemitic. http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/22133/martial-arts-group-denies-nazi-clothing i am trying to get the word out because i do not want to see this crap get into mma.

 

yeah they have taken them down since the controversy has started in the past month. some of those shirts posted were taken down from the website just a few days ago. they have also tried to backtrack from their support of a skinhead band called west wall. they have tried to say they never sponsored them but the pictures were all over myspace before they took them down and made them private.

yes when you translate reich it means empire but we all know what the real implications and uses of that phrase are for. there is a very specific group that talks about the 4th reich and a lot of them post on stormfront.org.

i just don't understand why they are bsing around. granted, i understand they don't want to get banned from the ufc and strikeforce but the connections are blatantly obvious if you go to aryanwear.com or stormfront.org or any skinhead/white power/neo-nazi website.

 

yeah i have learned a pretty fair amount about the origins of this stuff too since this started. it has also been interesting to learn what is actually a criminal offense to wear in germany. like wearing an iron cross has been approved by the courts in germany however if you are wearing iron crosses above the german flag then that is illegal. so from my understanding wearing a shirt like the one in the first pic is actually a criminal offense.