Mein Kampf was written by Hitler before he rose to power in Germany and began his attempted genocide of Jewish persons. According to a description of the book by the Jewish advocacy group Anti-Defamation League, the book serves as Hitler’s “blueprint” for his actions during World War II.
“Written eight years before he assumed power in Germany, the book lays it all out: his megalomania, his conspiratorial obsession with Jews and his lust for power,” the description reads. “For all who claimed they didn’t know, all they had to do was read Mein Kampf to know of Hitler’s intentions.”
Streicher also founded the anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer, or, in English,The Stormtrooper. After being found guilty during the Nuremberg trials for crimes against humanity, Streicher was executed in 1946.
Newsweek reached out to the HET but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Among those criticizing the scene was the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum which tweeted in February that the scene was “dangerous foolishness & caricature.”
“Auschwitz was full of horrible pain & suffering documented in the accounts of survivors. Inventing a fake game of human chess for @huntersonprime is not only dangerous foolishness & caricature. It also welcomes future deniers. We honor the victims by preserving factual accuracy.”
Show creator David Weil responded by acknowledging that the scene was not based on sheer fact, but was included in the show to “most powerfully counteract the revisionist narrative that whitewashes Nazi perpetration, by showcasing the most extreme—and representationally truthful—sadism and violence that the Nazis perpetrated against the Jews and other victims.”
