Darwin Had Crooked Teeth And A Big Nose

“A Jew with a big forehead, a big nose and crooked teeth,” is the description that accompanies Charles Darwin picture in Turkish schoolbooks.

Charles Darwin (1809–1882). Photo Credit: Photo News

The children’s book geared towards grammar school also day Darwin had two problems: “1. he was a Jew and 2. he hated the way he looked”.

Interestingly enough Charles Darwin wasn’t a Jew. He was a born protestant but lived as an agnostic.

Turkish schoolbooks seemed to have overlooked that ‘minor’ fact.

But Darwin isn’t the only one who is demonized in those children’s books. Albert Einstein is described as “a man who ate soap” and whose theory of relativity was “nasty and sloppy”.

Luckily for both men (?) the Turkish educational board has filed a complaint against the publisher of these books after parents expressed their disgust with the content thereof.

The board states the publication house intends to ‘sow hatred’ and demands that the books are immediately removed. According to the school board the books are ‘unscientific, antisemitic and anti-Armenian’.

About one thousand grammar school kids in Istanbul were given copies of the books for free last month.