Amazon’s ‘Hunters’ Slammed By Auschwitz Memorial For Fictionalizing ‘Human Chessboard’ Scenes

Amazon Prime’s new show Hunters was called out by the Auschwitz Memorial on Sunday for “dangerous foolishness and caricature” for creating a scene that is historically inaccurate.

The show, which stars Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, Jerrika Hinton and Tiffany Boone, follows a group of Nazi hunters in New York City in 1977. The scene in question takes place in a concentration camp, where a Jewish prisoner is forced to play a game of chess with other prisoners as pieces. Each time a piece is removed from the board, the prisoner is killed. The scene is in the first episode, but is used in the opening sequence for all 10 episodes in the season.

100 CELEBRITIES WHO DIED IN 2019 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW

“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,” tweeted the official Auschwitz Memorial account.

“My decision to fictionalize was made in awareness of this debate, and this show takes the point of view that symbolic representations provide individuals access to an emotional and symbolic reality that allows us to better understand the experiences of the Shoah and provide it with meaning that can address our urgent present,” said the show’s creator David Weil in a statement in response to the Auschwitz Memorial.

Some Twitter users defended the show, saying that the it has done a lot to bring awareness to the Holocaust. The museum wrote back to say that the show should not have created a fake story about a real event.

One Twitter user asked if the museum offers consultations for those writing about the Holocaust. They responded that they do, though not many contact them to do research.

Earlier in the week, the Auschwitz Memorial also attacked Amazon for stocking “Nazi propaganda” on its website.

On Monday they shared Amazon’s response to their argument:

The show, produced by Jordan Peele, released its first season on Amazon Prime Video on Friday. You can watch the trailer below.