Auschwitz Memorial criticizes new Amazon Prime show 'Hunters'

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By Ben Kesslen  with NBC News World News
Image: Al Pacino and Logan Lerman in a scene from Amazon's "Hunters."
Al Pacino and Logan Lerman in a scene from Amazon's "Hunters."   -  Copyright  Christopher Saunders

The Auschwitz Memorial criticized Amazon Prime's new show about Nazi hunters on Sunday, calling its depiction of the Holocaust "dangerous foolishness."

"Hunters," starring Al Pacino, premiered Friday and chronicles a group of people trying to stop Nazis living in 1970s New York City.

In one scene, the show features a human chess game in a Nazi concentration camp where people die when a piece in the game is eliminated.

The Auschwitz Memorial, which preserves the site of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp in Poland, took to Twitter to criticize this scene for its historical inaccuracy and its ramifications.

"Inventing a fake game of human chess for ['Hunters'] is not only dangerous foolishness & caricature. It also welcomes future deniers," the Memorial said. "We honor the victims by preserving factual accuracy."

The memorial also criticized Amazonon Friday, calling books it sold "hateful, virulently antisemitic Nazi propaganda."

NBC News requested comment from both the Auschwitz Memorial and Amazon Prime on Sunday but did not hear back. The memorial's criticism isn't the first time it has knocked Amazon.

In December, Amazon removed Christmas ornaments and other items like mousepads from its website that depict the Auschwitz concentration camp after complaints from the memorial and others.