No Swastikas: Difference between revisions

Many a [[World War II]]-based game will not use a swastika to symbolise [[Nazi Germany|the Nazis]], instead using the Iron Cross (still a symbol of today's German Army, ''Bundeswehr'', albeit a modified version), the red-white-black tricolor of the 1871-1918 [[Imperial Germany|German Empire]], or alternatively the Balkenkreuz (pictured at right).

 

 

Use of the associated expressions, such as "Sieg Heil!" are also banned.

German Neo-Nazi groups choose to use symbols of [[Imperial Germany]] instead, which highly annoys German monarchist groups.

 

 

That said, the older tradition about Buddhist and Hinduist swastikas, used as a protective symbol, can sometimes be found in supernatural series like ''[[Kolchak the Night Stalker]]'' and ''[[The X-Files]]''.

There was even a real life instance during the Rape of Nanjing when the German businessman (He worked for Siemens, and was also a Nazi Party Member) John Rabe [[Pet the Dog|set up a protected area for refugees from the Japanese terror]] under the German flag, with its big swastika. Thus for thousands of Chinese, even the Nazi swastika returned to its Hindu meaning.

 

 

Recently, the export market has become increasingly important for Japanese creators of Anime and Manga. Despite the fact that swastikas are okay in Japan, many creators are nonetheless preemptively avoiding swastikas in order to make their works easier to export. Recent examples include [[Naruto]] where the swastika on Neji's forehead was changed to an X and [[One Piece]] where Whitebeard's logo was changed from a swastika to a cross. While it may seem like these changes were [[Bowdlerise|Bowdlerization]] by foreign localizers, these changes were actually mandated by [[Executive Meddling|Japanese executives]], presumably so that foreign localizers wouldn't have to go through the trouble of doing the Bowdlerization themselves.

** Related is a scene late in the original series, where [[Big Bad|Gihren Zabi]] is compared to Hitler by his own father, and subsequently turns it into [[Insult Backfire]]; the English dub has them discuss fascism instead.

** And of course, that's before we get into how later productions, primarily ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory]]'' and ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket|Gundam 0080]]'', push the "Zeon = Nazis" thing to great lengths with uniforms and flags that are explicitly modeled on Nazi regalia (the only change being the Zeon emblem replacing the swastika). And then you recall how as of late, more and more ''Gundam'' stories [[Rooting for the Empire|paint Zeon as brave rebel heroes]]...

* One chapter of ''[[Apollo's Song]]'' has the main character incarnated as a young soldier in Nazi Germany, escorting a trainload of prisoners to a concentration camp. Naturally, there isn't a swastika to be found.

* Averted in ''[[Great Teacher Onizuka]]''. It confused many Westerners when in one episode where Onizuka brings back his old bike gang together, he is seen [http://twitpic.com/1ij6pp/full covering his face with a swastika]. It's not a square manji. It is a full on German right-facing diamond-shaped swastika (but roughly drawn and lacking the white circle). It is currently unknown how this was handled in Germany, as it is uncensored in the English dub ([[Moral Guardians|hard to believe, I know]]).

* The Nazi Germany segments in [[Pearl Jam]]'s "Do the Evolution" video had Nazi banners that had the lightning symbols instead of swastikas.

* Latvian band Skyforger had [http://www.spirit-of-metal.com/les%20goupes/S/Skyforger/pics/121765_logo.jpg a logo with an archaic pre-Nazi swastika making up the 'O'] Due to them attracting a lot of neo-nazis/NSBM fans, they [http://www.party-san.net/bandlogos08/skyforger_logo.gif changed the logo] and added a disclaimer to their albums which reads "No Nazi stuff here!" and they released an official statement on their website explaining that they find Nazism to be abhorrent. [[Misaimed Fandom|Still, some fans are confused.]]

 

 

* Model kit manufacturer Revell's German division omits swastikas from all its WWII Germany related models, while the U.S. arm tends to avoid them entirely (leaving only Allied, modern military, civil aircraft, space/sci-fi-, cars, light commercial....)

** In fact, any model kit manufacturer who wants to sell their products in Germany will omit swastikas from the decal sheets of WWII era German military hardware (at least one going so far as to black out Hitler's face from a crowd scene on the ''box art''.) Some, however, have included decals of a "plus sign" and four separate "dash" decals, unmentioned on the instructions, leaving it to the modeler to assemble the offending symbol themselves, if they wish.

* In the 1960s, a popular British TV series was ''[[The Colditz Story]]'' about World War Two prisoners of war in the "escape-proof" castle of the title. A tie-in board game was launched, complete with a swastika on the box lid. After some complaints, new box art was introduced without the swastika and the swastika versions are now quite rare and worth a bit of cash.

** But don't try selling them on [[EBay]] as they will remove the sale as [http://www.techdigest.tv/2009/01/ebay_nutcase_of.html "eBay does not allow listings or items that promote or glorify hatred, violence or racial intolerance, or items that promote organizations with such views."]

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Battlefield (series)|Battlefield 1942]]'' uses imperial symbols for Nazi Germany; the German flag, for example, is the Imperial flag with an iron cross in the middle.

** In ''[[Doom (series)|Doom]] 2'', the two secret levels are absent in the German version, as they are literally updated ports of two ''Wolfenstein 3D'' levels (see below), swastika-banners and all.

** Its modern-day sequel, ''[[Return to Castle Wolfenstein]]'', [[wikipedia:Return to Castle Wolfenstein#Synopsis|had some changes in the German version]] such as crosses in place of the swastikas, but a patch is available that restores the uncensored graphics.

** Wolfenstein RPG plays this trope straight, to accommodate it's [[Lighter and Softer]] atmosphere. Eagle insignias are used in place of swastikas, and the Nazis are referred to as "Germans" or "Axis". There are even portraits of Hitler, with his moustache turned into a goatee.

* In the ''[[Il-2 Sturmovik]]'' combat flight sim series, the German planes never carry the black swastika and the Finnish planes do not carry the historical Von Rosen cross, a light blue swastika on a white circle. This, despite the fact that the adoption of the Von Rosen cross predates the adoption of the swastika by the NSDAP by several years, and in any case was done to honor the ''Swedish'' count Erik Von Rosen, who had donated planes to Finland during their civil war. Soviet planes in the same game still carry the red star, which of course has unsavory connotations for many. In the real world, the Russian military still use the red star, despite the Soviet Union having been gone for 20 years, although the version now carried by the Russian Air Force, at least, is a red star outlined in white and blue, thus including the three colors of the Russian Federations's flag.

** The original Russian version of the game has both German and Finnish swastikas. Russians don't seem to mind.

* Also ignored in the original ''[[The Legend of Zelda (video game)|The Legend of Zelda]]''- the layout of the third dungeon forms a Manji symbol.

* ''[[Maken X]]'' and ''[[Maken Shao]]'' confused themselves over this one. German fighter Margarete and her troops wear red Nazi armbands and her fortress is full of Swastikas in the original Japanese version of ''Maken X''. In America and Europe, all swastikas were replaced with the equally geometrically pleasing but less-offensive Chinese character 'mu'. Apparently somebody liked this choice, or just didn't want to repeat the censorship, so all versions of the remake ''Maken Shao'' use the same symbol. American and European ''Maken X'' also found the roman numerals on [[The Pope]]'s wings changed (and the fact that he was The Pope was phased out), and a Muslim enemy's crescent-and-star design was erased.

* ''[[Freedom Force]] vs. The Third Reich'' also featured no swastikas. Appropriately, one of the first mods made for this game allowed the player to include them.

** This didn't stop them from entirely removing Nimdok's chapter from the German release, though, which made the game [[Unwinnable]].

* The game ''[[Lego Adaptation Game|Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures]]'' uses generic German soldiers. However, the coloring of the Colonel Vogel minifigure seems to suggest a Nazi eagle and all soldiers have blonde eyebrows and blue eyes instead of the standard black/brown eyebrows and black eyes every other character has.

** As do the officially licensed Indiana Jones Lego sets. This probably has something to do with the fact that the LEGO Group is sort of a [[Technical Pacifist]] of toy companies, refusing to manufacture "war toys"; that is to say, very realistic guns or contemporary military hardware. It doesn't stop them from selling accessories like flintlock pistols, revolvers, rifles, chainsaws and all manner of laser guns, though.

** In the level "Opening the Ark" there are several red flags hanging around that are obviously Third Reich flags, sans swastika; without said symbol, they do look rather odd, almost like a large red rug with black stripes hanging up to dry.

** Is it [[Fetish Fuel|wrong]] that he looked kinda hot in it?

** Later in the game, the nerds' leader Earnest has [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITpX5wrVFKM&feature=player_detailpage#t=112s a flag design] for his presidential campaign: a green flag with a white circle in the middle and a tilted black "E".

* The National Guard's 45th Infantry Division is from Oklahoma, and so during WWI its unit patch was a swastika. It has since been changed to a Thunderbird.

* Since the swastika originated in India as a symbol of good luck, it's used as frequently as a yin yang or smiley face would be used in America.

* [http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/google-earth/google-earth-helps-spot-swastika+shaped-building-304670.php A 40-year old swastika-shaped Navy building] in San Diego was discovered to have the peculiar shape via Google Earth, and the Navy has pledged to fix it as soon as possible.

** Hopefully they won't, because right across the street there are [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=32.676108,-117.157688&spn=0,0&t=k&hl=en two bomber-shaped buildings flying towards it].

** This was a quite common practice in many regions prior to WWII. It's a simple to create and fairly attractive symbol in tile flooring (if you can get past the Nazi appropriation of it, that is).

* The Serbo-Croatian word for "sister-in-law" is "Svastika." YMMV as to whether it applies in your personal case or not....

* At least some American public schools have low tolerance for swastikas to the point where students are forbidden to include them in pictures containing Nazi soldiers or flags and will get in trouble if they do.