DS ACW (US civil war) soldiers worldwide removed from Online Shops & Funstores

[StJohn]

(remember the Pirate Ship that was seen as racist a few years ago).

You are absolutely right, thanks for reminding. That painful episode no doubt was on their mind when making this decision.

Best wishes
StJohn

[playmofire]

Most people here in the USA don't even know what Playmobil is and probably never will. Although I find it bizarre, I think Playmobil might have made the right decision in this case. They probably don't want any more possible bad publicity here (remember the Pirate Ship that was seen as racist a few years ago).

Maybe withdraw the sets in the US, but why the rest of the world?

[Junker Jörg]

Maybe withdraw the sets in the US, but why the rest of the world?

Ich schätze, von einer Spielzeugfirma, die auch Nazisoldaten vertreibt - und sei es nur außerhalb Deutschlands - würde ich vermutlich nichts kaufen wollen.

I'm not sure if I'd like to support a toy company known to spread Nazi-Soldiers - even if they wouldn't issue them here  in Germany but in other countries only.

jj:

P.S. Ich glaube, das Thema hängt auch sehr vom persönlichen Hintergrund ab. Und manchmal wüßte ich echt gerne, wo z.B. jemand herkommt, der hier dieses oder jenes dazu schreibt. Die Aussage "Indianer paßt für mich" kommt aus dem Mund eines Nachfahren deutlich anders als z.B. von mir rüber. Manche verraten ihre Nationalität ja im Profil, bei anderen fänd ich's klasse, wenn sie hier ihre Heimat verraten würden, um die Aussagen noch ein wenig besser einsortieren zu können.

P.S. This topic seems to be a quite personal one and strongly influenced by cultural and national factors. So I sometimes wonder what your personal backgrounds are when stating your points of view here. It e.g. does make a difference if you or your family does have an Inidan background when, as stated above, someone writes "Indians is fine with me" (while written by me those words would turn out complete nonsense...). Some of us do disclose their nationality e.g. in their profiles. Maybe those usually not revealing their homeland or origin might do so in this context? It might make assessing their post easier if they did.

[Hadoque]

In the PCC Playmobil-team has meanwhile responded that the sets are "sold out"  Sure. 
When someone asked why all the Funstores then had to send back to Zirndorf the remaining stock, they (of course) didn´t have an answer.

Ich schätze, von einer Spielzeugfirma, die auch Nazisoldaten vertreibt - und sei es nur außerhalb Deutschlands - würde ich vermutlich nichts kaufen wollen.

I'm not sure if I'd like to support a toy company known to spread Nazi-Soldiers - even if they wouldn't issue them here  in Germany but in other countries only.

I can´t see anything "Nazi" about Confederate soldiers. (Or about the Yankee ones, don´t forget they too have been pulled from the DS assortment). The US civil war took place in the 1860s, not in the 1930s or 1940s.
It are racists and US-based Nazis who (ab)use the old confederate flag.
Okay, the confederates were against the abolishment of slavery but you have to see that in a mid-19th century context, and it is a far cry from what the Nazis did 80 years later.

[Klickteryx]

Okay, the confederates were against the abolishment of slavery but you have to see that in a mid-19th century context

Many of them had the attitude that if god didn't want slavery then it would cease somehow. That's one of the reasons why many prominent people in the Confederacy supported black freedom after the war. They reasoned that god had set the slaves free.
It was a very similar concept to the old judicial duel in the middle ages whereby guilt was determined through trial by combat. God wouldn't let the innocent be defeated.

Of course immediately after the war the freed blacks served in the army helping to push back the indian tribes to make room for civilisation. Manifest Destiny and all that. There was also a lot of interest in returning the freed slaves to Africa but the money wasn't put forward though some were sent to Liberia. I believe Lincoln was working on something to that effect when he was assassinated.

[tahra]

Okay, the confederates were against the abolishment of slavery but you have to see that in a mid-19th century context, and it is a far cry from what the Nazis did 80 years later.

OT, but I seriously doubt most in the north were in favor of ending slavery. They didn't want the Union to break, which is a different matter.

They didn't think (IMO, I wasn't there!) the black people were their equals, and surely didn't want them to come and take their jobs.  Resettled in Africa ok, free in the North.. meh.

As to the southerners, they didn't want the north dictating their way of life, and the economy did depend on a big part on ancient methods, powered by slavery. Not easy to stand aside and see it just fall to ruin, I suppose.

I believe Lincoln wanted to compensate the slave owners and end it peacefully, but hotheads on both sides prevailed 


On topic, pcc answer not surprising.

[Junker Jörg]

I can´t see anything "Nazi" about Confederate soldiers.

Sorry, no offence ment - neither a general comparison of German Nazi-times and ACW. I refered to playmofires question why Playmobil withdrew those sets everywhere and not just in the USA. So what I intended to compare were people obviously offended by certain figurines. To them it might not make so big a difference if those figurines where sold in their country or at other places only, they are likely to shun the company issuing them. And as ACW does have no personal meaning to me I chose a topic likely to be much more delicate to me as a German than to others.

Hoppla, da gab's ein Mißverständnis. Es liegt mir fern, den amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg mit Nazideutschland zu vergleichen. Ausgangspunkt war Playmofires Frage, weshalb die Figuren nicht nur in den USA sondern überall aus dem Handel genommen wurden. Darauf bezieht sich meine Antwort: Menschen, die sich an einem Produkt stoßen, wollen vermutlich, daß dieses Produkt generell nicht mehr vertrieben wird, nicht nur in ihrem Land. Daher mein Vergleich, da ich als Deutscher auf vieles, was mit dem Thema Nationalsozialismus zusammenhängt, vermutlich empfindlicher reagiere als Andere.

jj:

[Junker Jörg]

On topic, pcc answer not surprising.

Aber überraschend unklug. Als ob wirklich niemand mitbekommen würde, daß da Bestände plötzlich vom Personal und nicht von auskaufenden Kunden aus dem Regal genommen wurden. Ein Patzer des Presseteams, würde ich sagen.

But surprisingly imprudent. As if really noone noticed stock beeing removed by staff and not by bying customers. A classic press team's fail I daresay.

jj:

[tahra]

But surprisingly imprudent. As if really noone noticed stock beeing removed by staff and not by bying customers. A classic press team's fail I daresay.

But, again, not surprising 

[Ismene]

Okay, the confederates were against the abolishment of slavery but you have to see that in a mid-19th century context, and it is a far cry from what the Nazis did 80 years later.

Also, to my knowledge, most Confederate soldiers did not own slaves. The lower ranks in any army are typically the not-so-wealthy folks. There were black soldiers on both sides (it might be a bit controversial to add one to the Confederate trio, but PM might consider adding one to the Union trio). The Civil War is a touchy subject, especially at the moment.

A Civil War era plantation set with enslaved staff would be completely inappropriate for a children's toy, but I feel that is different than representing the war that led to slavery being made illegal. A toy shouldn't represent slavery or genocide, regardless of era. WWII is too close to living memory for even the soldiers to be represented. However, I feel like the only reason the Western theme and the Civil War sets have stuck around this long is because PM is German. The whole Wild West thing seems very old timey to me; not in a historical sense, but in a popularity sense. It belongs to the era of John Wayne movies. It's not the sort of theme American children are into these days.