Chaplin was on Hitler's hit list, says book

Charlie Chaplin was on Adolf Hitler's hit-list being categorised as an 'Artistic Jew', suggests a Nazi propaganda book, which has the name of prominent Jewish figures, including Albert Einstein.

The book, 'Juden Sehen Dich An' (The Jews are Watching You), was published in Berlin in the 1930s and consists of 95 pages which include the names of activists, bankers, economists, journalists, academics and artists.

The Nazi regime failed to see the funny side of Chaplin and attacked the legendary comedian "in a section named 'Artistic Jews', with the suggestion that he was of Jewish origin and therefore a "pseudo-Jew."

The "black book" authored by Dr Johann von Leers, who is regarded as one of the most notorious anti-Jewish propagandists of the Nazi regime, is set to be auctioned next week, The Daily Telegraph of Britain reported.

"The book aims to attack leading Jews worldwide, warning the German people that these people, were forming an international network aimed at world domination," auctioneer Richard Westwood-Brookes said.

Film Historian, Kevin Brownlow said Chaplin was once sent a copy of the book and made the classic comedy 'The Great Dictator' in 1940 as an act of defiance in response to seeing himself on the "hit-list".

Brookes said, "Chaplin must have feared for his life when he saw the book because the majority of the people in this book were exterminated by the Nazis."

"The Nazis mistakenly thought he was Jewish because Chaplin never denied it," Brownlow said.

The book is set to go under the hammer at Mullocks Auctioneers on March 6 at Shropshire.