A Holocaust-themed exhibit in the city of Umeå in northern Sweden featuring mannequins in concentration camp uniforms hanging from gallows was put up by an anti-Israel group named Umea for Palestina on Friday.
The supposed message is that Palestinians in Gaza are undergoing the same atrocities that Jews suffered under the Third Reich—although some have interpreted it as a call to hang Jews.
The mannequins are dressed in long gray and white stripes, displaying a yellow star next to a series of numbers, reminiscent of the uniforms Jews were forced to wear in concentration camps during the Holocaust.
A banner reading, “Genocide is genocide is genocide” towers above, with two PLO flags hoisted besides the gallows. In the front, what looks like a real person wearing a keffiyeh hiding his or her face, sits down with a baby doll in both hands.
The display stirred a storm in Swedish social media, after which the original posts on Facebook and Instagram were removed, according to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan News.
Israeli Ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman dubbed the exhibit a “grotesque exploitation of the Holocaust and a chilling act of antisemitism.
“When pro-Palestinian demonstrators hijack the memory of the Shoah to vilify Jews today, they cross every moral line. We must never allow the Holocaust to be weaponized against Jews ever again,” he said.
The diplomat added, “We welcome the Swedish police’s investigation into this despicable act of incitement.”
Hanging dolls in Umeå in striped uniforms with yellow Stars of David is not “solidarity.”
— Ziv Nevo Kulman 🇮🇱 (@zivnk) July 19, 2025
It is a grotesque exploitation of the Holocaust and a chilling act of anti-Semitism.
When pro-Palestinian demonstrators hijack the memory of the Shoah to vilify Jews today, they cross every… pic.twitter.com/Fhc5wFwmAC
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar reposted the ambassador’s tweet on his own X account.
Swedish Jewish comedian and author Aron Flam expressed outrage on X, saying, “This is utterly insane. Shut it down now. These are not demonstrations. They are religious rituals calling for the genocide of Jews.”
Swedish journalist Bitte Assarmo, a regular contributor to online publication Det Goda Samhället (“The Good Society”), wrote on her Facebook page, “Umeå for Palestine? Bullshit. More like Umeå for terror against Jews. How do police, authorities and politicians in the city of birch trees act after this antisemitic abomination? How far can it go before Sweden sets its foot down?”
Swedish legal scholar Professor Mårten Schultz said the exhibit may violate laws against incitement.
“This isn’t just about Israel—it targets Jews as a people,” he was cited by local media outlet Omni as saying, Ynet reported.
