German army apologizes for posting Nazi uniform as fashion statement on Instagram

“Dear community, we apologize! We posted a photo of a Wehrmacht uniform used for a movie,” said the military in a statement.

By World Israel News Staff 

“Germany’s military has apologized after it posted a Wehrmacht outfit as part of a ‘uniforms and fashion’ social media campaign,” reports Deutsche Welle (DW), a German state-owned public international broadcaster.

“The Bundeswehr has become active on social media in attempts to drive recruitment,” says DW.

“In recent years, the Bundeswehr has been trying to combat dwindling recruitment with far-reaching marketing campaigns hoping to convince German youth with promises of adventure and good career opportunities,” the news outlet notes.

On Wednesday, however, the German military posted a picture on Instagram of a Nazi uniform with the word “retro” on top of it.

The photo showed “the uniform of a major in Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht, complete with iron cross and Parteiadler, the pin of an eagle atop a Swastika that was the official insignia of the Nazi party,” the German broadcaster reported.

The caption read that “fashion is also one aspect [of army service]. Even today, elements of military-style are part of haute couture.”

DW reports that outraged Instagram users and German media picked up on the offensive post, and as a result, the Bundeswehr deleted the image and posted an apology.

“Dear community, we apologize! We posted a photo of a Wehrmacht uniform used for a movie. The uniform is in an exhibit in our Military History Museum in Dresden … the intention was to show a photo story of a centuries-long influence of uniforms on fashion,” said the military statement as quoted by DW.

“Extremism of any kind is a no-go in the Bundeswehr. We are now investigating what went wrong and how we can prevent it in the future,” said the German army in its apology, as cited in the media report.