Scotian

I've been looking at diecast models lately, and I've noticed that Dragon Wings, Matchbox, and perhaps other manufacturers, have removed the swastika from their aircraft models. Is it their official policies to do this -- to falsely advertise their products as being historically accurate while intentionally omitting such a major detail? If so, it was undoubtedly for political reasons.

This really annoys me. To me, such historical revisionism for political reasons is no better than the actions of holocaust deniers.

Are there any sources for various scale markings/decals that can be applied to such inaccurate diecast models?

Flight Director

Not sure what the policy is on this. However Corgi still ads that to their models.. but at the 2005 toy fair in Nuremburg Corgi had tape covering those areas of the planes.

-t

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Hapag-Lloyd

They want to sell their models in Germany, I guess, where swastikas are banned by law. So are various other nazi signs and memorabilia.

Those who "need" these things usually buy them from US soldiers-they can get anything in the px, banned by German law or not.

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Scotian

I can see a company wanting to sell to Germany, and taking such actions, but considering what it is they are making (i.e., professionally made historically accurate models), I would think they would find another way. Two versions of the model would be expensive, for German customers anyway, but it is their stupid law that would require it.

I call the law stupid because certainly by now merely seeing a swastika would turn a German into a Nazi supporter no more than an American seeing a *** symbol would turn him into a klansman. I would say this is a European phenomenon, but even here in the US we have idiots kicking children out of school for making a gun out of their fingers during recess. But this is probably not a discussion for this forum.

I wonder if selling the things with appropriately colored tape over the mind-controlling symbols would satisfy both the German law and the German collectors -- it apparently worked at the toy fair. Non-German collectors may end up buying both versions -- you know how obsessed collectors can get.

I have heard that in some history-related circumstances the swastika does not have to be hidden in Germany, but I guess the law doesn't include these models, no matter how historically-minded they are.

Hapag-Lloyd

Nope. Only the non-swastika version would get through customs, the other one would be confiscated. As for the law, I think those people that actually want the nazi stuff do know where to get it.

A friend of mine, who is into military aircraft, told me that you were/are able to buy swastika decals from an aviation magazine (not sure which) where the swastikas are cut in half. This way, apparently, you can sell them.

But please don´t blame us. These laws were "recommended" from outside of Germany, to eliminate the danger that nazism would ever be on the rise again. If the desired effect is actually caused by this law, or by proper education, I can´t tell.

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Ken

Yes, I am almost sure this was a demand of the United States (followed by the allies) of Germany. I believe when the West set up West Germany is was put into law. It's in their constitution, I think.

Ken

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Scotian

Well, yes, the Allies probably imposed that law, although I would imagine by that time it was a welcome law. But it still exists, and I assume the Germans could change it now if they wanted to. It's just another "thought crime" kind of law, and those laws are fundamentally flawed wherever they occur, and insulting, really.

But now I have a Dragon Me 109 to find a couple of stickers for...

Ken

I am not arguing with the stupidity or validity of a law. Just how and when that law was inacted. Personally my views verge on Libertarian, so I too think its a dumb law. But hey it's their law not mine.

Ken

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Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P. J. O'Rourke

Alumni of University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, GO PANTHERS!

Hapag-Lloyd

Afaik, that very law has been introduced in the 1970s.

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Scotian

I just received my Corgi 1:72 Memphis Belle. Aside from the broken antenna, which I suppose I will fix, it is really nice. Except that what should be the yellow swastikas by some of the gun positions are instead yellow crosses. Shame, Corgi, shame! I had such respect for you. Well, it's not as annoying as when official aircraft insignia are missing.

Chansen

It is history that shouldn't be forgotten especially the Holocaust. Those who tend to put History to the wayside tend to repeat it!

JFK'ER

You can see the revisionism in Lufthansa's promotional material. I remember receiving brochures from them where they covered their history from the '30s on up. They had the Condors and JU-52's etc but they never showed the swastika on the tail. I'm curious whether German schools teach Nazi history to kids pre-school on up.

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I blame Cuomo.

Hapag-Lloyd

They do, even more than US students learn about it. From the Thule Society around the turn of the century, WWI incl. Gen. Ludendorff and flying ace Hermann Göring, the Versailles treaty, the 1920s great depression, Weimar, rise of Hitler, first anti-jewish actions in 1933, Reichstag burnt down, first concentration camps set up against political opponents, the Olympics in 1936, Rhineland militarized, Czech Republik annexed, Poland raided, WWII, Russia, Holocaust, 6 million jews dead, 11 million shoah victims altogether, bombing of the German cities, defeat and unconditional surrender - we learn it all, albeit history is only taught from 5th grade onwards. However, non-violence is taught from pre-school on, and bits like the holocaust are taught from 1st grade on, in a way understandable to children (like in form of jewish children´s diaries rom the 3rd Reich).

A lot of the old pictures were "edited" by the Allied Forces in the late 1940s/early 1950s. These can´t be restored without destroying the origial material. Displaying swastikas in history books and similar documents is not banned by law. Then again, perhaps they did not show the insignia to respect the feelings of countries such as Israel, Russia et al that have suffered greatly under the swastika (Israel itself suffered indirectly, but greatly nonetheless).

It is a good thing that we learn so much about what happened during the 3rd Reich, and that atrocities like the shoah and the SS brutality against civilians is up for discussion rather than denial. I sometimes wish that other countries did the same, like Japan in respect to the war crimes and atrocities in China, Mandshuria and Korea, Turkey in respect to the Armenian genocide - I think that only knowledge of history, and not denial, can prevent these things from happening again.

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