Russian social network hosts 'Miss Hitler' beauty pageant

VKontakte, home to half a billion users, blocks page after hundreds vote in competition to ‘show beauty of Hitlerian culture’

A page on a popular Russian social media network devoted to Adolf Hitler was suspended Thursday for hosting an online beauty pageant dubbed “Miss Hitler.”

The competition, hosted by the Adolf Hitler page on VKontakte (also known as VK), Europe’s largest social media network with half a billion users — a Russian equivalent of Facebook — drew contestants from Germany, Italy, Russia, and the US, Hadashot television news reported.

After the Israeli TV network contacted VKontakte, the company suspended the competition and issued a statement condemning hate speech.

The competition site was replaced with a page saying, “This community has been blocked due to calls to violence.”

Russian social media network VK blocked a ‘Miss Hitler’ competition hosted on its site. (Screen capture: VKontakte)

The group had encouraged women to enter the competition by posting sexy Nazi-themed selfies together with an entry explaining why they “love and revere the Third Reich of Adolf Hitler.”

Hundreds of users voted in an online poll while thousands viewed the competition’s pages. Entrants used their full names and unabashedly wrote of their neo-Nazi values and the organizations to which they belonged.

Women sent in photographs of themselves performing Nazi salutes, at neo-Nazi rallies, or posing with Nazi memorabilia.

One of the now-blocked pages had outlined the objectives of the competition, which included: “Promoting Hitlerian culture; encourage interaction between the Hitlerian community; clear the image of Adolf Hitler, show beauty of Hitlerian culture” and to “protect and defend women.”