DMV: No Hitler License Plates

RICHMOND, Va.--The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday recalled a license plate that appeared to have coded references glorifying Adolf Hitler. What does that mean exactly?

The vanity plate reads "14CV88," and was the subject of complaints after photos were posted online.

The "88" is a coded reference to Heil Hitler, often used by white-racist gangs, as each word begins with the eighth letter of the alphabet.  The "14" is thought to stand for the number of words in a white supremacist credo. The "CV" is an apparent reference to the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Germany Reopens Alleged Nazi Investigation

BERLIN--Hannover prosecutors have reopened an investigation in which a 95-year-old former SS officer is accused of being involved in two 1943 massacres of Jews in the Polish city of Lublin, according to a GoogleNews.com report.

The prosecutors' office made the decision based on a letter that suspect Erich Steidtmann wrote in October 1943. Steidtmann was a captain in the Nazi's elite force, the SS, and also the head of a company belonging to the infamous Hamburg Polizeibataillon 101.

"We reopened the investigations to check whether he was on vacation during the time of the massacres or whether he was at the location when it happened," prosecutor Kathrin Soefker told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The prosecutor said a new understanding of an abbreviation in the letter could indicate that Steidtmann was not on home leave when the shootings of thousands of Jews took place, as he had told prosecutors during earlier investigations in the 1960s.

The abbreviation in question was a military code to indicate that the sender of the letter was in the field. The letter itself was dated October 31, 1943 — three days before the massacres began.

During the so-called "Mission Harvest Festival" massacres on November 3 and 4, 1943, tens of thousands of Jews in the district of Lublin were shot by Nazi officers, among them members from Steidtmann's Hamburg Polizeibataillon 101 company.

YouTube To Remove 'Downfall' Parodies

YouTube has recently begun removing videos that feature content from Constantin Films 2004 film about the last days of Hitler, "Der Untergang" ("Downfall"), despite the fact that many of these videos are parodies and thus constitute fair use of the material, according to MSNBC.

The "Downfall" parodies often take a now-infamous scene from the movie--in which Hitler reacts to the news that Germany is about to lose the war--and puts satirical subtitles over the action (the movie is in German).

"According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, these videos are being removed because of YouTube's automated Content I.D. system, which allows copyright owners to disable any videos that contain its content — regardless of whether the videos may be legitimate because they contain other elements. Many of the parodies are still up, as YouTube's Content I.D. system is not perfect — but it's probably only a matter of time before the filtering system hunts them down and removes them," according to MSNBC.

Nazi Flags To Flow From Belfast City Hall?

It is quite possible that one of mankind's most hated symbols will find a home on top of city hall in Belfast--if you can believe it. But it is not what it seems.....

The swastikas will fly if a proposal to use the building as a set for a new drama about Nazi Germany is approved, according to a report in The Belfast Telegraph.

"The producers of the film, which will see Doctor Who actor Matt Smith playing the lead, are also hoping to use the civic centre's internal courtyard to recreate one of the infamous book burning episodes of the era," the report said.

The 90-minute feature, written by acclaimed playwright Kevin Elyot, will tell the story of English novelist Christopher Isherwood (Smith) who lived in Berlin in the pre-war period.

Obama Marks 65th Remembrance Day

President Barack Obama marked today, the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II, called Remembrance Day, with a statement honoring the memory of "those who endured the horrors" of the Nazi atrocities of World War II.

The president says the Holocaust calls on all people to renew their commitment to prevent genocide and "to confront anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms."

Indianapolis Offers Statewide Holocaust Remebrance Event

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A statewide Day of Remembrance of the Jewish Holocaust will include a ceremony at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.

Indiana Poet Laureate Norbert Krapf will deliver the keynote address at the event that begins at noon Tuesday. Other speakers include state Treasurer Richard Mourdock; Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council President Michael Wallack; Indiana Civil Rights Commission Executive Director Tony A. Kirkland and Clayton A. Graham, who is chairman of the Martin Luther King Jr. Indiana Holiday Commission.

The King Commission is hosting the observance that recalls the Nazi genocide of some 6 million European Jews.

Swede Hoegstroem In Poland For Auschwitz Sign Theft

Swede Anders Hoegstroem arrived in Warsaw on a Polish military aircraft today before being transferred to Krakow, where he faced charges for the theft of the infamous Auschwitz "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign, according to a report.

Krakow prosecutors hope to begin the hearing on Monday, the report added.

Hoegstroem's attorney Bjoern Sandin has said his client could receive up to 10 years in prison for charges of stealing, destroying and selling a cultural object of importance.

Polish justice officials indicted Hoegstroem in January for suspected involvement in the December theft of the sign, which translates to "Work Will Set You Free." Authorities issued a warrant for Hoegstroem's arrest on February 2, and Swedish police arrested him nine days later.

Five other men have also been arrested in connection with the Auschwitz theft, and three have been tried and sentenced to terms of between 18 months to two and a half years. Two of the five have said Hoegstroem asked them to steal the sign.

Hoegstroem founded the Swedish neo-Nazi National Socialist Front in 1994 and led it for five years before quitting.