As the Little Tramp, he made millions laugh. But the Nazis never saw the funny side when it came to Charlie Chaplin. Adolf Hitler’s hatred of the politically outspoken movie star is apparent in a yellowing book of Nazi propaganda which includes Chaplin in a hit list of prominent Jews. The fact that Chaplin was not Jewish didn’t save him from being a target. The book, Juden Sehen DichAn (The Jews are Watching You), brands him a “pseudo-Jew”. He was in excellent company. Albert Einstein was among the international Jewish figures listed in 95 pages corroded with hate. The book, which includes names and photographs of activists, bankers, economists, journalists, academics and entertainers, was written by Dr Johann von Leers, a notorious anti-Jewish propagandist. Published in Berlin in the 1930s, it is thought to have inspired Chaplin’s classic comedy The Great Dictator, in which he both directed and starred. In the 1940 movie, Chaplin plays a Nazi-like tyrant, Adenoid Hynkel, dictator of Tomainia, clearly modeled on Hitler. The book is to be auctioned in Shropshire next month. The book aims to attack leading Jews worldwide, warning the German people that these people were forming an international network aimed at world domination. Each leading Jew is featured with a photograph and a pen portrait, but by far the most remarkable and bizarre aspect of this book is the inclusion of Charlie Chaplin. He is attacked in a section named ‘Artistic Jews’, with the suggestion that he was of Jewish origin and therefore a pseudo-Jew. Chaplin must have feared for his life when he saw the book, because the majority of the people in this book were exterminated by the Nazis. Film historian Kevin Brownlow said Chaplin made The Great Dictator in response to seeing himself on the book’s hit list.
Random Content
Tags: Charlie Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin was on Hitler's hit list, comedy king, hitlist, on Hitler's list, on the Hitlers | Filed in Hollywood
Loading ...
Add A Comment