I think it's important when discussing the topic of whether or not a manufacturer includes swastikas in a kit, to recognize a couple of distinctions.
There are legal bans on displaying and distributing Nazi symbols, such as the clockwise rotating swastika and other emblems, in Germany and other countries, and there is the question of whether or not each of us as a collector chooses to collect and display items depicting the history of the Third Reich. One does not necessarily flow from the other, and we must not misunderstand why the first is in place, especially in the context of politics today in the West.
Nazi emblems are banned from display, with exceptions made for historical-educational use, in Germany, in laws that pre-date the current constitution of the Federal Republic, and that originate in the ordinances passed in the US and British zones of occupation immediate after the defeat of the Third Reich. In the US zone, the occupation authorities kept a tight rein on the press, prohibiting not only overt National Socialist material, but also nationalist material, and anything else thought to be provocative.
When the leading German politicians (Adenauer, Heuss, et al) convened to develop a constitution and legal code for a postwar German state, they adopted the ban into the civil and criminal codes. It survives to this day.
Items made to be sold in Germany cannot display the swastika, without violating that law.
Now, to the other point, we may each of us decide, at least here in the United States, whether to display a Reichskriegsflagge, or a Party badge, or a picture of Hitler with hearts drawn all over it, because that is protected speech. We have a different history, as inheritors of the English Enlightenment, so we have different laws. Actually, you'll almost get in more trouble now for displaying the Confederate battle flag, because of distortions of historical facts, than you would if you were display a swastika.
And just to illustrate that this isn't a new issue in our time, remember that the division sign of the US Army's 45th Division was a swastika, if I'm not mistaken, red, with the cross set up/down like a plus sign, and rotating clockwise, until we entered the war, when it was replaced with another symbol common among Southwest Indian tribes, the thunderbird.
Personally, I choose not to collect items depicting the Third Reich, at least, not for my toy soldiers. I do build German aircraft and armor, though.
And finally, there's a quote I always think of, from Bill Mauldin, in his book, "Up Front", discussing the issue as it was presented in the press during the war. He said something to the effect that GIs saw very few Nazi troops, except when they came up against Waffen-SS units, and that a dogface sweating out an 88 barrage didn't say, "Those dirty Nazis!", but rather, "Those godd*m Krauts!"
Just some observations on the topic of swastika/no swastika...
Prost!
Brad
