Thailand: Prime minister's Hitler video aimed at young children condemned
A propaganda film commissioned by Thailand's ruling junta that features a schoolboy painting a likeness of Adolf Hitler has prompted outrage on social media and drew strong condemnation from Israel's ambassador to the country.
The 11 minute video, entitled 30, was issued by the country's prime minister General Prayuth Chanocha and tells the stories of young children learning about discipline, loyalty and life.
54 seconds in to the film, a grinning schoolboy reveals his painting of Adolf Hitler, to enthusiastic applause from a classmate.
The prime minister's office tried to brush off the incident, referring to the uproar over the scene as a misunderstanding.
"The film is good, but it has caused a slight misunderstanding in our society," said Panadda Diskul. "We won't stop the project, but we will replace that problematic picture with another, more proper one," Panadda said.
The film drew criticism from Israel's ambassador in Bangkok, who called for Holocaust education to be introduced into the Thai education system.
"I was surprised that throughout the screening process this movie must have gone through to be approved for public broadcast, none of the smart, well-educated people checking it had identified it as being problematic and offensive," Simon Roded said in a statement.
"If we learn anything from this incident it is that Holocaust education, especially its global messages of tolerance, should be introduced into the Thai curriculum."
At present, the history of the Holocaust is not taught in many Thai schools and the curriculum focuses more on Thai history.
The incident is the latest in a series of Nazi-related incidents in the country. In June 2013, a fast food joint named 'Hitler' opened in the country, while a mural depicting the Nazi leader among a group of superheroes including Batman and Iron Man was unveiled at a university in July of the same year.
However the latest video, which was released over the weekend, appears to be the first time the Thai state has endorsed Nazism.
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