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Kids’ book slammed for featuring Hitler among ‘great leaders’

An India-based publisher of a children’s book has sparked outrage after featuring a book on “Great Leaders” that included a photo of Adolf Hitler on its cover.

Pegasus For Kids

One outraged organization on Friday asked the publisher, B. Jain’s Pegasus division, to pull the book from stores and its online site.

“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,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

In addition to Hitler, the book’s cover has photos of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Barack Obama and Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

A blurb on the back of the 2016 book says its purpose is to “focus on some of these powerful world leaders who have dedicated their lives to the betterment of their countries.”

Cooper countered the betterment claim, noting that Hitler’s “vision almost destroyed our planet started WWII, which left tens of millions dead, and mass-murdered 6 million Jews during the Nazi Holocaust.”

The rabbi said a member of the Los Angeles center bought a copy of “Great Leaders” at the Krithi International Book Fair in Cochin, India — a southwestern port city that has been home to Jews for centuries.

Pegasus did not respond to emails asking if “Great Leaders” had generated earlier criticism or why a title with a May 2016 publish date was still getting book-fair treatment.