Adidas has banned German fans from personalizing their No. 44 shirts amid concerns it resembles an emblem utilized by Nazi SS units during World War II.
The Nazi group Schutzstaffel, commonly generally known as the SS, was a paramilitary organization of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich and operated concentration camps during the Holocaust.
The German football federation has now suspended the delivery of shirts with the number ordered via its online platform and is, along with its partner, 11teamsports, searching for an alternate design for the number 4.
The federation stated that the designs were submitted to the UEFA Champions League while the shirt was being designed.
“None of the parties involved saw any connection with Nazi symbolism in the development of the shirt design,” the German Football Association (DFB) said on X, formerly Twitter.
Concerns that the shirt’s design meant the number 44 resembled SS were first expressed by historian Michael König, who stated that the design of the kit was “very questionable”.
“Historically, it was very questionable to allow such shirts for home European Championships,” he said.
Adidas spokesman Oliver Bruggen said the similarity was not intentional and that the federation and 11teamsports were jointly accountable for the design of the names and jersey numbers.
“People from about 100 countries work at Adidas,” Bruggen said. “Our company is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion and as a company actively campaigns against xenophobia, anti-Semitism, violence and hatred in all forms.
“Any attempt to promote views that are divisive or exclusionary are not part of our values as a brand,” he added.
The newly released kits have already sparked debate in Germany over the alternative of pink away shirts to have fun the country’s diversity.
The stylized, diagonal SS symbol stays banned in Germany. It was designed in 1929 and have become an emblem of some of the most egregious atrocities committed by the Nazis. SS members were tasked with supervising concentration camps, interrogating suspected traitors, and running extermination camps reminiscent of Auschwitz, where over 1,000,000 people died.
This ruling got here in reference to Germany’s planned organization of the European Championships happening from June 14 to July 14.
(*44*)Credit : www.independent.co.uk
