As we saw in Charlottesville and more recently, Tennessee, America protects the rights of citizens who wish to express their hateful views using Nazi symbology. In Germany however, the swastika and Nazi party have been banned since 1945. So with the release of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus in Germany comes plenty of clever brushstrokes to paint over their sordid past.
*Major Spoilers*
One of the most intense and downright disturbing sections of The New Colossus involves the player infiltrating a casting call for actors to play the presumed dead superterrorist BJ Blaskowicz, as Blaskowicz himself in disguise. The producer warns the actors that they have to be their best, because the director/funder of the film, who is revealed to be a sickly, murderous Adolf Hitler, is known to be a little abusive towards his talent.
Here’s the full scene:
And here’s Germany’s version of the same scene:
In the U.S. release, the phrase “mein fuhrer” is used often, but in the German release, the robed weirdo with a Richard Spencer haircut is called “mein heiler” and “mein Kanzler,” which translates to “my healer” and “my chancellor.” But the most blatant change is the removal of Hitler’s mustache (and the removal of the swastika with a fictional symbol) and a very weak dub of the dialogue, which some German gamers have called patronizing.
(Via Polygon)