The Auschwitz Memorial and the British-based Holocaust Educational Trust were among those who criticized the online retailer after it was found to be selling copies of Julius Streicher’s The Poisonous Mushroom, as well as other books from the Nazi Party member.
The children’s book, originally titled Der Giftpilz, contains a number of anti-Semitic tropes and was even used as evidence against Streicher during the Nuremberg trials, after which he was executed in 1946.
Streicher founded the anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer, which was used to promote the group’s propaganda.
“This book brands the Jew as a persecutor of the labor class, as a race defiler, devil in human form, a poisonous mushroom, and a murderer,” a record of the trial states. “This particular book instructed school children to recognize the Jew by caricature of his physical features… and that the Jewish Bible permits all crimes.”
The book also tries to teach children Jewish people “abuse little boys and girls.”
“This book is obscene,” Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said in a statement.
The Jeff Bezos-owned company has now confirmed that Streicher’s infamous books have been removed from sale on their site.
In the opening episode of the Al Pacino-starring drama Hunters, a flashback is shown in which guards are seen playing a game of human chess with prisoners at Auschwitz, forcing the inmates to kill each other
“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,” the Memorial tweeted.
In its defense, Hunters creator David Weil said that while the series is a “dramatic narrative series, with largely fictional characters, it is inspired by true events.
“But it is not documentary. And it was never purported to be,” Weil added.
