Amazon has been hit with heavy criticism after it came to light that the eCommerce giant was selling Nazi propaganda films. Many accused the company of spreading hate for profit.
Israel B. Bitton, the executive director of Americans Against Antisemitism (AMA), recently wrote a letter to Amazon highlighting the Nazi propaganda films on the platform.
One such film is “Triumph of the Will,” which the letter calls the “centerpiece of the Nazi propaganda film cannon.” The movie glorifies Hitler. AMA accused Amazon of not providing any information about Nazi crimes to those who might view the video, allowing the film’s “corrupting influences” to seep into the minds of vulnerable audience members.
The letter points out that there are 30 Nazi propaganda movies available as DVDs on Amazon. A few more are made available through the Amazon Prime streaming platform.
In addition to films, Amazon also features other Nazi material that has even attracted favorable reviews. This includes several editions of Hitler’s biography “Mein Kampf,” Joseph Goebbels’ “Nature and Form of National Socialism,” and the “SS Leadership Guide.” The platform also sells the “notorious” anti-Semitic children’s book “The Poisonous Mushroom.”
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“Is it legal to peddle Nazi propaganda that set the stage for the genocide of 6 million innocent Jews? Probably but shame on @Amazon @PrimeVideo for monetizing Jew-hatred at a time of surging #Antisemitism. Dangerous. @JeffBezos should put a stop to it now,” Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, tweeted on Jan.11.
Dani Dayan, head of Yad Vashem, Israel’s premiere Holocaust museum and research center, called the availability of Nazi films on Amazon “deplorable.”
Amazon had previously promised that it would not make anti-Semitic content available on the platform. In an interview with Breitbart, former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind blasted the company for not sticking with its promise. Amazon has chosen “to ignore our communications” and is turning a blind eye to the hatred against Jews, he said.
“It’s beyond unacceptable… I don’t believe this is an issue that needs debating, it’s so clear-cut, so indefensible that we expect Amazon to correct this horrifying hate-for-profit scheme immediately. Frankly, they should be ashamed of themselves for allowing so much hate to literally stream through their platforms. There is no excuse for it, I don’t care what they say,” Hikind told the Free Beacon.
Following the growing criticism, Amazon removed 23 of the 30 Nazi propaganda films, including “Triumph of the Will.” Hikind called it an “important victory.” However, hateful Nazi films continue to be on sale on the platform, he pointed out.
In a letter to Amazon, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and Global Social Action director at the Wiesenthal Center, said that the movies should only be viewed in a history class in order to expose the lies, racist ideology, and genocidal hatred that the Nazis had against Jews.
“These films helped create and sustain Jew-hatred, which directly led to the ‘Final Solution of the Jewish Question’ and the mass murder of 6 million innocent Jews during WWII,” the letter stated.
