I was adopted by British Parents, having a half German heritage. About 7 generations ago a very close royal link on my Mum's side of the family. On my Dad's side a religious link caused a family split which caused my Dad's branch to change surname. Other half is German. My Dad was an engineer in WW2 for aircraft bombing my now relatives. Other half's father tried to escape over the Pyrenees and was then a prisoner of war in France for a number of years.

I have no issues with the politics, we have far bigger issues!

The Frontier Wars in Australia which have been covered up make WW2 look like a Sunday picnic on a percentage per capita basis.

In the past few decades, though, several European countries have banned displays of the swastika, which was notoriously usurped by the Nazi Party of Germany and came to signify all that was hateful, racist and tyrannical about its ideology.

Symbols used by the Nazis have been banned in Germany since August 1945, first by the Allied Command that took control in the aftermath of World War II and, later, by the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.

But the re-emergence in recent years of countless ultra-right, far-right, fascist and racist movements has spurred several nations to outlaw the swastika or other symbols of despotic regimes.

The hammer and sickle icon, for example, which came to represent the totalitarian regime of the Soviet Union, is illegal, along with the swastika, in several countries: Hungary (1993), Lithuania (2008), Poland (2009), Ukraine (2015). There are exclusions for educational, historical, artistic and journalistic purposes.

France's penal code bans displays of symbols, uniforms and insignia that have been utilized by organizations responsible for crimes against humanity.

On your layout you do what you want. It is a part of history that will live with us forever & if your modeling that era & have Military trains on your layout then you are proto typically correct in displaying that symbol.

But others may not appreciate what you have on display. I have one WW2 "Axis" Powers set of Artitec military vehicles on lowbed wagons. One is a half track & has the symbol on the bonnet of the vehicle in red & white

circle but the the actual swastika symbol in black is missing. I have deliberated for years now on whether to put it on or not. I still remain undecided. My two cents worth.

I questioned this display video on the Facebook page, but received a dismissive response. Minimally, it seems unnecessarily callous. Others are understandibly offended. Facebook probably does not allow this, rejecting the 'historic' argument. Why would someone go there?

it may make people feel uncomfortable and maybe that is a good thing. It was very awful conflict and there were atrocities by all sides in the conflict.
There are no "moral victors" in a bloodbath: Hiroshima, Dresden or Birkenau. And yet here we are with more "wars and rumours of wars" to this day.

If we whitewash history and pretend these things do not exist, then we stand to repeat the fateful errors of our not too distant past.
Display of images is all a question of context and has historical value. The rules surrounding these things have not hindered humanity from continuing in its folly. The fact that we do not talk about and avoid taboo issues might be one reason we repeat them. I don't want to get political here on the forum, but I do think you should discuss them with friends and others in appropriate contexts.

That is all to say, just as when you encounter or write a powerful story, identify the characters clearly and trust your reader to determine the nuances.

Peace grows from within, only the appearance of peace can be imposed from the outside.

I think it lies in the hands of the producer, what is his or her objective and it is obvious the flag of the Swastika and what does it mean today ?
is it historical, is it meaningful, has it got merits and what spirit does it add to the model train world ?, we display things we don't understand and if it was with intent what's the purpose? to celebrate Glory ?, to represent past ideology ? or to remind us of war without its Glory, to represent a fictitious model war train from years ago.

John

We are talking about videos.
Even era V locos are shown with era II Nazi symbols in the background.

When those flags show up in the presentation of an era V loco then they do not represent the time of the loco.

The accurate representation of an inhuman dictatorship still is the representation of an inhuman dictatorship. Everybody decides what they want to represent on their layout. Not my cup of tea.

Rest assured that Facebook/Meta would have flagged and removed the video if Meta or Mark Z felt it was antisemetic. The symbol was used first by India, and the 3rd. reich adopted it as an entirley different meaning.

If one is a bit stressed over how to display tanks. Move forward to 2022. Millions of dollars worth of tank destroyed by a hundred K smart missile, which have also been adapted for knocking out aircraft and other infrastructure.

I think every single military entity will be rethinking military assets.

Display what you want to display and have your informed reasons.

Australia has had the Frontier Wars which have been covered up to the nth degree. The vast majority of the population is ignorant one way or another. Weapons including disease warfare needs to be brought out into the open.

The modeller needs a few more lessons how to represent history, a totally failed attempt to recreate a scene from a bygone era, it lacks all form of attention to detail

I agree with rhfil. If it is OK on the big screen, I don't question it on a home layout. In San Francisco, I have seen a Nazi symbol displayed in a window with no explanation. Cannot tell what the motive is, but there will always be something that someone will see as objectionable. Freedom gives us the right to express ourselves in any way we want but we must accept the consequences.
Actually, what about German WWII ship and airplane models? If the layout were in Germany, I can see where it might be a touchy subject.

Minok, do you mean the murders of American Indians? That wasn't one sided, and was quite different.

Well one side was almost completely eliminated, so it seems mostly one sided, or at least 0.95 sided.

Look up "Trail of Tears" as one example.

To the post above: but even a fool would acknowledge the huge difference between the symbol being used on a hindu ornament and on a nazi flag.

Swastika present in two ways.
Clockwise and counterclockwise.
Nazist swastika are copy.
In fact hindu was not alone by use swastika symbol.
Swastika is mentioned for first time in 1866 for swedish dictionary and i believe it´s same for other states.
Military use difference symbols and many railroader use it too.

Another thread heading for a locking.

Do you mean "Yes please"?

Kimball

In light of the direction this may take and requests to lock, it's probably run its course.