Adidas has banned football fans from customizing the German national team shirt with the number 44 due to its similarity to the symbol used by Nazi SS units during the Second World War.
The case, which broke out a few days after the announcement of the imminent divorce between the German house and the German national team after 70 years of association, has wide echo in the international media, prompted by the report of the German historian Michael König, who at the presentation of the shirt for the next European Championships and upon discovering the character of that number he reported the uniform as “very questionable”.
The Schutzstaffel (SS), a paramilitary organization of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, had in fact the task of carrying out the industrialized genocide of the Jews throughout Europe, and were therefore at the basis of the Holocaust. An Adidas spokesperson, Oliver Brüggen, denied that the kit's resemblance to Nazi symbols was intentional. “We as a company are committed to opposing xenophobia, anti-Semitism, violence and hatred in all forms,” he said. “We will block the customization of shirts.”