jerusalem (jps) | Just a week after defending its decision to market dolls depicting Nazi guards, Plan B Toys, an Ohio-based toy company, has agreed to remove the figures from its line of products.
In a statement posted on its Web site, the company announced that it would no longer produce toy soldiers portraying the Nazi Totenkopf, or Death’s Head, Division of the SS “due to numerous requests.”
“Our intent,” the company claimed, “was to depict historically accurate action figures of Allied and enemy forces. We apologize for any unintentional harm our product may have caused.”
Jewish groups and Holocaust survivors had expressed outrage after learning the company had begun to market action figures based on a popular World War II video game that included toy soldiers resembling the infamous SS guards. The Totenkopf was established by Adolf Hitler to guard concentration camps, and took part in numerous atrocities against Jews.
After the war, the unit’s commander, SS Obersturmfuhrer Fritz Knoechlein, was executed for war crimes.
Initially, Plan B Toys had refused to withdraw the figures, with company Co-president Chris Borman saying it had decided to produce them “because they’ve got the coolest gear.” While acknowledging that the Totenkopf had been “involved in some terrible things,” Borman remained defiant, asking, “But wasn’t everyone during World War II? It’s just history.”
After receiving numerous complaints, various toy stores announced they would no longer stock the items, and the company decided to halt their distribution.