‘Hunters’ Creator David Weil Defends Show Against Criticism From Holocaust Museum

Amazon’s latest show Hunters has been widely criticised for taking creative licence with the Holocaust, with one particular scene involving a game of ‘human chess’ labelled a disrespectful, false caricature by the Auschwitz Memorial.

Created by David Weil, Hunters is a fictional series starring Al Pacino, Logan Lerman and Josh Radnor set in 1970s New York. In it, a series of Nazi hunters track down the hundreds of Nazis they believe to be hiding in the city and planning a Fourth Reich.

Since its 10 episodes were released on Amazon Prime Video on February 21, the show’s reception has been lukewarm, to say the least.

While not necessarily ‘bad’ or unenjoyable to watch, The Guardian called it “dangerously insensitive”, saying its ‘part-pulp’ style is “too cool and self-conscious for its own good”. Vulture agrees, criticising its blend of “LOL comedy” alongside “wrenching flashbacks to the Holocaust”. NPR are a little kinder, calling it “more fun than it should be”, expressing hesitance while still giving the show props for uniqueness.

In several reviews, the first episode’s human chess scene is referenced as the peak of the show’s brutality. It is a flashback scene where Auschwitz soldiers play a game with naked prisoners, killing them as their pieces are eliminated — something which, to be clear, there is no evidence of ever happening.

Via a series of tweets, the Auschwitz Memorial derided the scene for overwriting the legitimate pain and suffering “documented in the accounts of survivors” by creating a “caricature” of the holocaust.

“Auschwitz was full of horrible pain & suffering documented in the accounts of survivors,” they wrote. “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. ”

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. pic.twitter.com/UM2KYmA4cw

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) February 23, 2020

When Twitter users argued against the museum to defend the series, the account clarified its position to state that this kind of sensationalised fiction erases the memory of victims — a dangerous precedent that accidentally plays into denialism.

“We bother because we believe that accuracy should be preserved when you talk about the real historical place,” they wrote. “‘Fictional’ is a bad excuse. Respect accuracy and memory of the victims.”

The museum, which looks after the Auschwitz memorial in Poland where more than 1.1 million people — largely Jewish — were killed or died of starvation, cold or disease, also criticised Amazon for selling anti-Semitic books by Julius Streicher, a Nazi war criminal.

‘”When you decide to make a profit on selling vicious anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda published without any critical comment or context,” they wrote, “you need to remember that those words led not only to the Holocaust but also many other hate crimes motivated by antisemitism.”

When you decide to make a profit on selling vicious antisemitic Nazi propaganda published without any critical comment or context, you need to remember that those words led not only to the #Holocaust but also many other hate crimes motivated by #antisemitism. https://t.co/qX4Gsz5h6E

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) February 23, 2020

Amazon has not responded to comments about Hunters, but did defend their right to sell books by Streicher. In comment to The Guardian, a spokesperson wrote: “As a bookseller, we are mindful of book censorship throughout history, and we do not take this lightly. We believe that providing access to written speech is important, including books that some may find objectionable.”

Hunters creator David Weil has responded to criticism regarding the chess scene, saying he did not want to merely replicate the “specific, real acts of trauma” that occurred at the Holocaust. Similarly, he made sure all prisoner tattoos were of numbers above 202,499, the highest given at Auschwitz, as he didn’t “want to misrepresent a real person or borrow from a specific moment in an actual person’s life”.

Weil says he was inspired to write Hunters after visiting Auschwitz, where his grandmother was imprisoned, and concludes that he believes he and the memorial “are very much on the same side and working toward the same goals”.

Read the full statement below (via Vulture).

Hunters creator David Weil’s statement on criticism

Years ago I visited Auschwitz and I saw the gates my grandmother was forced to enter decades earlier and the barracks she was forced to live in as a prisoner. I saw vestiges of the nightmarish world she had survived. It was an experience that forever altered the course of my life. It was the moment consecrated in time and memory that I sought to make good on doing my part – however big or however small – to ensure the promise of “Never Again.” I believed then – as I do now – that I had a responsibility as the grandson of Holocaust survivors to keep their stories alive.

While Hunters is a dramatic narrative series, with largely fictional characters, it is inspired by true events. 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?

It was for this reason that I made the decision that all of the concentration camp prisoners (and survivors) in the series would be given tattoos above the number 202,499. 202,499 is the highest recorded number given to a prisoner at Auschwitz. I didn’t want one of our characters to have the number of a real victim or a real survivor, as I did not want to misrepresent a real person or borrow from a specific moment in an actual person’s life. That was the responsibility that weighed on me every night and every morning for years, while writing, producing, editing this show. It is the thing I go to sleep thinking about and the thing I wake up working to honour.

In speaking to the “chess match” scene specifically… this is a fictionalised event. Why did I feel this scene was important to script and place in series? To most powerfully counteract the revisionist narrative that whitewashes Nazi perpetration, by showcasing the most extreme – and representationally truthful – sadism and violence that the Nazis perpetrated against the Jews and other victims. And why did I feel the need to create a fictional event when there were so many real horrors that existed? After all, it is true that Nazis perpetrated widespread and extreme acts of sadism and torture – and even incidents of cruel “games” – against their victims. I simply did not want to depict those specific, real acts of trauma.

If the larger philosophical question is can we ever tell stories about the Holocaust that are not documentary, I believe we can and should. HUNTERS, like a myriad of acclaimed films on the subject, does not always adhere to literal truth in its pursuit of capturing the representational truth of the Holocaust. My decision to fictionalise 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.

I am forever grateful to the Auschwitz Memorial for all of the important and vital work that they do, for keeping the memory of victims and survivors like my grandmother, Sara Weil, alive. I believe we are very much on the same side and working toward the same goals. And I hope we can continue a dialogue on how to achieve those goals.