Adidas Bans ’44’ on Germany’s Team Jerseys After Historian Says It Looks Like a Nazi Symbol

Adidas has banned buff from individualise the German internal squad jersey with the number “ 44 ” after outrage over the resulting resemblance to Nazi symbolization .

Historian Michael König appears to have been one of the first people to detect the resemblance between the “ 44 ” and the symbol for the“Schutzstaffel,”also known as the SS , which was responsible for project and carry out the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler . In a post on X , formerly know as Twitter , last Friday , Königincluded screenshots of Germany ’s national team jersey , which is sold by the companionship , with the bit “ 44 ” and articulate it was “ refutable ” to permit the shirts .

König ’s post quickly gain steam . As of Tuesday aurora , it had been view more than 7.4 million times on X andpromptedmanymedia articlesonAdidas ’s blunder .

The “SS” in that style of font is a Nazi symbol for the “Schutzstaffel,” or “protection squads.” Men in this squad considered themselves to be the “racial elite” among Nazis.

The “SS” in that style of font is a Nazi symbol for the “Schutzstaffel,” or “protection squads.” Men in this squad considered themselves to be the “racial elite” among Nazis.Screenshot:Courtesy of Michael König

“ It was a stupor for me to see the numbers like that . It remind me now of the SS runic letter , ” König , who is German himself , say Gizmodo via lineal messages . “ And I do n’t understand why nobody at Adidas ascertain it . ”

Fans were able-bodied to take the number “ 44 ” because Adidas allows them to individualize some of their wearing apparel with specific names or numbers pool . In luminousness of the critique , Adidas quickly disabled the personalization option for the jersey in its on-line store .

In a instruction to Gizmodo on Tuesday , Adidas tried to shake off the critique and pointed out that the German Football Association , or DFB , and its partner , soccer apparel merchandiser 11teamsports , were responsible for the design of the names and number on the New Jersey .

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“ Our company remain firm for the promotion of diversity and cellular inclusion , and as a company we actively react xenophobia , anti - Semitism , violence , and hate in any form , ” Adidas said . “ Any attempts to further dissentious or exclusionary views are not part of our note value as a trade name , and we firmly refuse any suggestion that this was our aim . Our companionship stands for the promotion of diversity and inclusion body . ”

The German Football Associationresponded to the backlashover the jersey on Monday in a post on X. The connection explicate that it checks the figure 1 - 9 and then send numbers 1 - 26 to UEFA , the governing body for soccer in Europe , for review , according to a Google translation of the text .

“ None of the parties involved saw any propinquity to Nazi symbolism in the development process of the jersey design , ” the German Football Association said . “ Nevertheless , we take the data very seriously and do not want to provide a platform for discussions . ”

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The affiliation sum that it was working with 11teamsports on an alternative design for the number 4 .

König , the historian , said he applauded the swift answer to the situation from Adidas . He said that certain group of people should n’t be able to express their good - extension aspect to the outside world . That would have been potential , König pointed out , with the “ 44 ” on Germany ’s team jersey . He tally that the effect is of even higher importance because Germany was hosting theUEFA European Championshipthis summer .

“ Germany ’s worst period should not be print on a jersey , ” König say .

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