Netflix to amend John Demjanjuk documentary after complaints from Polish PM
Poland's prime minister writes to streaming site over 'The Devil Next Door' series, claiming it used incorrect maps of his country
Netflix is to amend a documentary series about an alleged Nazi concentration camp guard amid complaints from Poland.
The country’s prime minister wrote to the streaming giant about The Devil Next Door, a series which tells the story of a Ukrainian-American car worker who was accused of war crimes.
Mateusz Morawiecki insisted Netflix change maps featured in the programme which located death camps inside modern-day Poland’s borders.
He said they misrepresented Poland as being responsible for the camps when it was occupied by Germany during the Second World War.
The Auschwitz Memorial Museum also complained to Netflix over the maps, accusing it of misplacing some of the camps and using inaccurate details about their functions.
.@netflix "Devil next door" tells an important story. However not only it shows a map of Central Europe with post-war (not war-time occupation) borders but also the locations of Chelmno and Majdanek camps are simply wrong. One could expect more accuracy in such a production. pic.twitter.com/iiJ9Mkmwud
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) November 10, 2019
Also Majdanek was not actually an extermination camp like Treblinka or Belzec. It should be marked like Auschwitz or Gross-Rosen. And if this map should be accurate you should at least also include Stutthof there. And why in Germany only Ravensbrück is mentioned? pic.twitter.com/Mf9PkQH0Xk
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) November 10, 2019
Netflix has now said it will add text to the maps making clear it was the Nazis who built and operated the camps.
In a statement, Netflix said: “We are hugely proud of The Devil Next Door and stand by its filmmakers, their research and their work.
“In order to provide more information to our members about the important issues raised in this documentary and to avoid any misunderstanding, in the coming days we will be adding text to some of the maps featured in the series.
“This will make it clearer that the extermination and concentration camps in Poland were built and operated by the German Nazi regime who invaded the country and occupied it from 1939-1945.”
The Devil Next Door tells the story of John Demjanjuk, who was accused of being an infamous Nazi concentration camp guard called “Ivan the Terrible”.
He died in Germany in 2012 while appealing against his conviction for war crimes.
Nazi Germany sparked the Second World War by invading Poland in 1939. Throughout the war it killed millions of people, many of them Jews, in concentration camps.
In his letter to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Mr Morawiecki said it was important to “honour the memory and preserve the truth about World War II and the Holocaust”.
He said “certain works” on Netflix were “hugely inaccurate” and “rewriting history”.
Watch the trailer for The Devil Next Door here:
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
