A float is paraded during the "Zondagsstoet" on the opening day of the Aalst carnival on February 23, 2020, in Aalst. - The Aalst carnival was removed from the UNESCO list of intangible heritage at the end of 2019 over persistent charges of anti-Semitism. (Photo by Juliette Bruynseels / AFP) (Photo by JULIETTE BRUYNSEELS/AFP via Getty Images)

The story of a Nazi-obsessed boy and his imaginary friend, Adolph, might seem unlikely fodder for comedy. Indeed, when Jojo Rabbit was released, some critics balked at the premise, which reduced the Third Reich to buffoonery. Yet laughing at intolerance, in this age of division, offers hope.

In the struggle to diminish hate, satire is clearly writer-director Taika Waititis weapon of choice. You think were at the height of human civilization and advancement, and it could never happen again, he told audiences at the Toronto premiere, adding that was exactly what they said in 1933.

The enduring relevance of that message is underscored by two recent events: the discovery of Nazi childrens propaganda for sale on Amazon, and a bizarre carnival parade in the city of Aalst, Belgium.

Last Sunday, Aalst residents paraded in costumes of elaborately poor taste. Several parodied Orthodox Jews in massive fur hats. A few dressed in Nazi SS uniforms, paired with Raggedy Ann-style red cheeks and braids. Others dressed as ants, invoking, for some critics, Nazi propaganda depicting Jews as vermin. Marchers posed before a fake Wailing Wall, twisting the Dutch name for Jerusalems holy site (klaagmuur) into de klaugmier, or the wailing ant.

Participants also lampooned Boris Johnson, Greta Thunberg and UNESCO, which delisted Aalst as a cultural heritage site after controversy over last years parade.

Its our parade, our humour, a spokesperson for the mayor told the BBC, denying anti-Semitism was at play. Its a weekend of freedom of speech.

Free speech and anti-Semitism already were hot-button topics heading into the weekend. Two days earlier, the Holocaust Educational Trust and Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum publicly called on Amazon and Amazon U.K to stop selling books by Nazi propagandist Julius Streicher.

Biographer Randall Bytwerk has described Streicher, the founder of Der Sturmer, as one of the most unpleasant of the Nazis. His illustrated childrens book, The Poisonous Mushroom, published in 1938, was presented as evidence at the Nuremberg trials. Streicher was tried and executed for crimes against humanity.

According to U.K. tabloid The Sun, English translations of Streichers works were printed in 2017 using the Amazon self-publishing platform CreateSpace. Their presence on Amazon was discovered by producers for Auschwitz Untold, a documentary commemorating the 75th anniversary of the camps liberation.

Its not the first Holocaust merch discovered on digital shelves. In December, Amazon pulled listings for a bottle opener and holiday ornaments bearing images of Auschwitz, following complaints on social media. Company policy prohibits the sale of products related to human tragedies. But enforcement in the vast digital marketplace can be sluggish and reactive.

Sensibly enough, Amazons policy does not apply to books, music, videos and DVDs. Books related to human tragedies would encompass authors from Anne Frank to Alice Walker.

Amazons initial response to the criticism heralded a thoughtful approach.

As a bookseller, we are mindful of book censorship throughout history, and we do not take this lightly, read a representatives statement. We believe that providing access to written speech is important, including books that some may find objectionable, though we take concerns from the Holocaust Educational Trust seriously and are listening to its feedback.

Censorship, in a Nazi context, inevitably conjures images of book burning. But the Trust has been clear its goal is not to destroy Streichers books. Preservation is, in fact, essential to its core mission of historical education. That doesnt mean retailers should start selling the audiobook. Education requires context.

Protecting freedom of expression requires constant vigilance. We must condemn offensive ideas as rigorously as we preserve the right to blurt them out, and suffer the consequences.

write.robin@baranyai.ca

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Baranyai: Defending free speech requires we condemn offensive ideas - The London Free Press