Today we celebrate The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 80 years since the discovery and liberation of Auschwitz. It brought to my mind a satirical story that we at On Spec took a chance on publishing  in 1993.

Erik Jon Spigel’s “Kissing Hitler” gave us a far-flung future where the history of the 20th Century had been either widely forgotten, or worse–completely mixed up and misunderstood. A spoiled young woman sees old newsreels online that presented the century as a bizarre blend of Hitler’s Nazi Germany and the late 60s Summer of Love.

A charismatic little man waving his arm at cheering crowds, alongside of peaceful scenes of parks filled with hippies with flowered necklaces and music. She tells a friend that with all the hippies and love, it seems like a great time and place to visit (time travel being possible), especially when her friend informs her that she, herself, is of Jewish heritage. So she makes a trip to Hitler’s Germany with the aim of planting a kiss on this charismatic leader who is holding millions in his thrall. First thing she sees is a truck loaded with people on their way to the camps, and she wants to join in the fun.

It’s a dark and rather twisted story, and something we trusted could never happen.

How can actual history be forgotten, you might ask?

Look around.