Netflix nixes Nazi symbols from billboards for new Eichmann movie

Some European countries only allow the use of Third Reich insignia as part of artistic performance, not advertising materials

Netflix has been forced to airbrush Nazi insignia from European billboards for its production on the hunt for war criminal Adolf Eichmann for fear of running foul of strict laws banning the showing of the symbols in some countries, The Times reported Saturday.

Under German law, publicly displaying swastikas and other Nazi symbols is illegal, unless it is done as part of an artistic performance covered by constitutional guarantees of free speech.

Therefore, Nazi symbols can feature in the movie itself, but not in any advertising or promotion materials.

Eichmann was the main architect of the Final Solution, the Nazi plan to exterminate Jews that led to more than six million deaths. Wanted for war crimes, he was living in the South American country after escaping Germany at the end of the war.

Eichmann was taken from Argentina by the Mossad while disguised as a flight attendant for Israeli airline El Al. He was hanged in 1962.

Ben Kingsley, who plays Eichmann in the production, has said he wanted to “nail him to the gates of Auschwitz,” but the movie has been criticized by some for its sympathetic portrayal of the Holocaust mastermind.