But Molly don't you think it goes a little too far when a video game depicting WW2 military action is prohibited from displaying historically accurate flags by German law?
I'm not speaking about games that glorify that ideology but merely portray an accurate picture of how military vehicles were marked in that time period.
How is that period of history covered in German schools these days? How are photos of the period handled in text books or in books in general? Are photos of swas-tikas (see what I mean, if I don't hyphenate it it becomes "cute puppies") permitted in historical contexts? Maybe that "cute puppies" business is my answer? It's very Kafkaesque.
Yes, it's ridiculous for video games since it's allowed in movies for example.
Reasoning behind is youth protection, not some symbol specific law tho. As silly as banning the f-word from TV, alongside some harmless titties
History lessons, well, that depends of the 'kind' of school education you get. We used to have - I think that changed recently tho - 3 school branches. You'd get assigned to one of them according to your performance. 3rd and 2nd branch get a proper amount of history lessons on the topic, I'd say. But for the majority history isn't the favourite lesson tho
But it's covered properly and openly. It didn't use to be like that till the 70's tho. Obvious reasons made it a touchy subject...
1st branch which leads to academic education is 3 years longer and covers the whole thing way more in depth. Political situations that led into the 3rd Reich and consequences afterwards. 1830 to 1965 is extensively covered. At least for me it used to be like that. Explicit pictures in the history books included.
And the symbols are not completely banned. If you wanna collect militaria, go ahead. SS knife with symbols and engraving skulls and shit - you can own it. For collection or educational purpose only. If you use it to promote the ideology - that is forbidden by law. That's the best example to explain the overall situation. Promote the ideology and justice system will come after you. Depicting the historical context for education - fine. That's why movies are normally allowed to use it if they can claim an educational goal for them. Video games are not educational - someone decided that, I guess. Stupid in my book.
Denying the holocaust is - apart from being completely retarded since those millions of Jews hardly suicided - promoting the ideology indirectly ("It wasn't that bad.")
Probably missed a point or two - kinda in a hurry