“Apple removed a notorious anthem of the Nazi Party from the German version of its iTunes online music store on Wednesday,” Eric Kelsey reports for Reuters.
“Named after a young party activist killed in 1930, the marching song ‘Horst Wessel Lied,’ was the unofficial anthem of the Nazis until it was banned in Germany at the end of World War Two,” Kelsey reports. “The Apple spokesman said it had been taken off iTunes but did not say if other Nazi-era songs had also been removed.”
Kelsey reports, “The Apple spokesman said the anthem had taken off iTunes, but did not say if other songs popular with neo-Nazis in Germany had also been removed.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
Huh? How did it get on there if it was banned by the German gov in the first place?
Will App Store haters point to this as yet another example of Nazi Apple policing its stores and restricting freedom and openness?
Surely you can find it on Amazon still…
I guess Eddie Izzard won’t be humming this one any more.
Not that he’s a Nazi.
You really need to have seen the relevant show to get this post, I suppose…
Thank goodness! Apple has undoubtedly saved the world from the certain rise of the Fourth Reich.
I’ll take the Nazi anthem any day over that puke garbage you call rap.
Ironic considering they just teamed up with Fox News.
Wow a thread where it’s actually legit to throw around the word “Nazi’.
Stupid.
Are we going to ban Wagner as well? He wasn’t a Nazi (lived before that time), but he was anti-Jew and his music was praised because of that.
So how did it get there in the first place?
I have been to Germany, anything Nazi is banned by the government. Only stuff I did see was in one of the museums I took a guided tour of in Berlin, and they were very silent during the 1933-1945 era.
Wagner never wrote lyrics extolling Hitler and the stormtroopers by name, nor was Wagner cast by Goebbels as a martyr of the Nazi movement.
I never knew it was there.
ObeyTheFist, the Nazis were socialists, leftists.
The people at Fox News are conservatives, not the same thing.
Read your history.
MDN word: growth, as experience some growth
@x Call me a Nazi if you want, but I agree with you.
Todays Trivia:
The US Coast Guard Academy’s training sailing ship the <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Eagle_(WIX-327)”> was taken from Nazi Germany as war reparation after WWII. It’s name under the Germans? Horst Wessel.
That link for the USCG Eagle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Eagle_(WIX-327)
Oh, I love these politically symbolic BanHammers! They ban a marching tune, ban Kiss for having “SS” in their name, but will they ban the Volkswagen that was made *by* the Nazis? Oh no, we like that one too much! Not a problem at all. Really.
And what other apps has Apple removed. This is not news.
@Mark S:
Bull. Fucking. Shit. It’s universally agreed that their extreme fascist ideology placed them on the far-right of the political spectrum.
The Nazis may have called themselves socialist in name, but were not in practice. Otherwise, you must agree that North Korea is really a democracy (DPRK = Democratic People’s Republic of Korea).
Nice try rewriting history just because the Nazis are inconveniently in “your half” of the spectrum.
Mossman
In terms of American politics, he was more left wing than right. Hitler advocated socialist policies including universal access to healthcare, cradle to grave welfare, government control of virtually ever aspect of citizens’ lives etc. While he had some traits in common with conservatives, including nationalism (love for ones country), and a large military, most of his policies were indeed left wing. Part of his philosophy was anti-capitalist, capitalism is pure right.
I’m glad Apple did this.
I’m glad that Apple did this and is proactive.
@mossman
Fascism doesn’t really fit into any “half.” Sure, socialists and communists are from the left, and anarchists are from the right, but none of them espouse hatred of an entire race, it’s about political and economic ideology.
And, judging by your tone, I’m sure you’ll come back with something saying that Republicans and/or Tea Partiers DO hate entire races/creeds, but if you honestly believe that then you are the one full of bull fucking shit.
@ Mark S.
You stupid, stupid, vitriolic little troll. Learn what these words actually mean. And please stop belieeeeving in any political “side” like a religious dogma. Anyone who thinks any particular party or political current has “The Truth” is not looking and is not thinking.
I’m confused by these posts. Our constitution says
“promote the general Welfare”. Wouldn’t that make
our Founding Fathers ‘socialists’, ‘communist’, and
‘liberals’ ???
if you think of the political spectrum as extending from no organized government (anarchists) to complete, totalitarian government then it makes it a bit easier to see where everyone fits. it also makes it easier to understand why germany and the u.s.s.r. would have a treaty and generally get along with each other until the soviets semi-surprise attack on germany. the specific policies just confuse the issue sometimes.
@MrMcLargeHuge
Please don’t put words in my mouth. I’d never go so far as to say Republicans or Tea Partiers in their current form go that far.
Now, perhaps it’s fair to say the Nazis *originally* were for social welfare, healthcare, and other traditionally left-wing ideology, but that ended after Hitler took over, since he banned the communist and socialist parties soon after. Political leanings change with time, and what political party hasn’t lied about intentions to get into power?
They don’t fit nicely on a one-dimensional political sliding scale, but within that scale, it’s agreed that during their time in power they were (and neo-Nazis today are) far right.
I’ve run across Mark S’ line of argument before, attempting to repaint the Nazis and sometimes even islamic (religious) extremists as “left wing” because they can’t stand the thought that the bad guys share more traits with their own side than the other. It’s revisionist history, and it’s pathetic.
Lest anyone jump on my wording, yes Hitler eventually banned all other political parties, but the left-wing ones were banned first.