According to the book description of the leaders chosen, “some are famous, others little known, but all of them energise their followers and try to make the world better”. However, a book that calls Hitler great which is directed towards those of an impressionable age might skew their understanding of his actions and their consequences.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in the US said the description of Hitler as “dedicated to the betterment of countries and people” would “bring tears of joy to the Nazis and their racist neo-Nazi heirs”.
“Adolf Hitler was a visionary – his vision almost destroyed our planet; started the second world war, which left tens of millions dead and mass-murdered six million Jews during the Nazi Holocaust,” Cooper said. “Placing Hitler alongside truly great political and humanitarian leaders is an abomination that is made worse as it targets young people with little or no knowledge of world history and ethics.”
Anshu Juneja, Pegasus’s publishing director, in an interview with The New York Times earlier this month, said Hitler was included in the book because “his leadership skills and speeches influenced masses”.
The book has finally been withdrawn by Pegasus.