A HONG KONG company has come under fire from an anti-Nazi group for producing models of two infamous Nazi SS officers which have become collectors' items in Germany.
International anti-Nazi organisation the Simon Wiesenthal Centre said the models of war criminal Joachim Peiper, infamous for ordering a massacre of American prisoners, and SS Lieutenant-Colonel Otto Skorzeny were 'outrageous' and an 'insult'.
Local manufacturer Dragon Models has been producing the figurines, sold through distributors around the world and over the Internet, at the request of customers in Germany.
The figurines became the subject of controversy in east Germany last week when police seized 12 toy components from six shops in the towns of Jena and Weimar and claimed they depicted Nazi figures and insignia.
They were suspected to be propaganda for 'anti-constitutional organisations', said police, using the euphemism for neo-Nazi groups which are outlawed in Germany.
Dragon Models said it was stunned by the seizures and emphasised it did not use swastikas or other Nazi symbols on its figurines.
'We have been making these models for 12 years. It's all part of history,' said Fred Leung Kwok-kip, the manager of the Tsuen Wan-based company, which also makes US, Chinese and Russian military figurines.
