Auschwitz Memorial Criticizes Fake 'Hunters' Details, Sale On Amazon Of Anti-Semitic Books

The Auschwitz Memorial criticized the Amazon.com Inc. AMZN Prime series "Hunters" depiction of the Nazi concentration camp on Sunday, saying it would fuel Holocaust deniers. 

Group Sees 'Foolishness' In Amazon Show

"Auschwitz was full of horrible pain [and] suffering documented in the accounts of survivors," the organization aimed at preserving the memory of the holocaust said on Twitter.

"Inventing a fake game of human chess for [Hunters] is not only dangerous foolishness & caricature. It also welcomes future deniers."

The web television series "Hunters," starring Al Pacino, premiered on Amazon's video-on-demand platform Prime Friday.

The plot involves a group of Nazi hunters who want to thwart the plans of a "fourth Reich" rising in the United States.

In a series of tweets, the Auschwitz Memorial shared select stories of Holocaust victims.

"We honor the victims by preserving factual accuracy," the organization said. 

'Hunters' Exec Producer Says Show Not A Documentary

"Hunters" creator and executive producer David Weil said in a statement that his grandmother was imprisoned at the concentration camp and has worked to ensure the promise of "Never Again."

The Amazon show is a dramatic narrative series with largely fictional characters that is inspired by true events, he said. 

"But it is not documentary. And it was never purported to be. In creating this series it was most important for me to consider what I believe to be the ultimate question and challenge of telling a story about the Holocaust: how do I do so without borrowing from a real person’s specific life or experience?"

The "chess match" scene lambasted by the Auschwitz Memorial is fictionalized, yet "representationally truthful," Weil said, adding that he did not want to realistically depict the "specific, real acts of trauma" perpetrated against Jews and other victims by the Nazis. 

Anti-Semitic Books On E-Commerce Platform

The Auschwitz Memorial earlier in the day criticized anti-Semitic books for sale on Amazon's e-commerce platform.

Amazon continues to host books from Julius Streicher, according to the Auschwitz Memorial. Streicher was a member of the Nazi party in his life who was central to spreading the party's propaganda through his newspaper "Der Stürmer."

The memorial retweeted the World Jewish Congress which said: "[Amazon] is continuing to allow hateful and inciteful material to be sold on its website, including a vile Nazi-era antisemitic children's book depicting Jews in devilish form, published by Julius Streicher of the notorious Der Stürmer magazine in 1938."

Multiple books authored by Streicher aimed at children remained available on Amazon.com at press time.

Amazon Price Action

Amazon's shares closed 2.65% lower at $2,095.97 on Friday. The shares traded further 0.24% lower in the after-hours session.

Photo Credit: Public domain photo via Wikimedia.