Gunned down and burned by the Nazis: the shocking true story of Bambi

Walt Disney made Bambi a cutesy schmaltzfest for kids. But the original story was a brutal holocaust allegory that forced its writer to flee. As the character hits 100, we look at the iconic fawn’s extraordinary life When Love Island stars Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury announced that they had named their daughter Bambi earlier this year, it caused a bit of a storm. Some approving fans claimed to be “obsessed” with the name, but Atomic Kitten star Kerry Katona called it “ridiculous” (although she later apologised). Meanwhile, writer Jason Okundaye poked fun with the tweet: “Does Molly-Mae not know what happened to Bambi’s mum?” Yet, among the many arguments for and against, nobody mentioned the reason why such a name might actually be quite timely. The iconic fawn is this year celebrating a very significant birthday, it being a century since the German imprint Ullstein Verlag first published Bambi: A Life in the Woods. Written by Felix Salten, an Austro-Hungarian, the coming-of-age novel would go on to be banned by the Nazis before eventually winding up in the hands of Walt Disney and becoming the animated children’s film many know and love. Continue reading...