Amazon stops selling books by convicted Nazi

Amazon has stopped selling books by convicted Nazi official Julius Streicher, following calls from the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) to remove the material.

Der Giftpilz or The Poisoned Mushroom, was originally published in German in 1938 by Streicher. As well as being the author of this, and two other children’s books, both of which were available on Amazon, he was the founder and publisher of the antisemitic Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer. He was convicted of crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials and executed in 1946.

HET wrote to Amazon on Friday 21st February asking for an explanation, for the publications to be taken down with immediate effect and has called for a review of Amazon policies to ensure it does not happen again.

Karen Pollock, HET c.e.o., said: "This book is obscene. It is worrying that distinguished publishers like Amazon would make available products that promote racist or hate speech of any kind, let alone those from the darkest period of European history. We have already raised our concerns about similar issues over the past decade.

"As the Holocaust moves from living history to history, our survivors regularly raise the concern that Holocaust denial and antisemitism still persist.

"We urge Amazon to do the right thing and remove this material from sale immediately, audit what else it may be on sale, and review their policies to prevent this ever happening again."

The Bookseller understands that several titles by Streicher are no longer available.

A spokesman for Amazon said: "As a bookseller, we believe that providing access to the written word is important, including books that some may find objectionable. We take concerns seriously and are listening to feedback. Amazon has policies governing which books can be listed for sale; we invest significant time and resources to ensure our guidelines are followed, and remove products that do not adhere to these guidelines."