I’m writing this to inform my followers that I have made a
massive mistake concerning one of my posts titled “Wartime Germany,” under the ‘Characterization
in Hetalia’ series. While the mistake doesn’t detract from my overall argument,
I’m still very disappointed in myself.

I understand that people make mistakes, but as someone who takes
months to create posts, fact checking countless times and aiming for the highest
accuracy possible that is primarily free of bias, I should have caught something as big as this. This post
has since been deleted, and I will create a new one tonight covering the topic
in whole again. I’m holding myself accountable for my mistake, and I apologize
for any inconvenience.

Before, I’ve stated that Nazi insignia is not shown in the
manga. This isn’t true. The Swastika has, in fact, made a few appearances in
the manga. Now, there’s no reason to panic. While Nazi insignia is shown in the
manga, the Nazi ideology itself is not promoted, let alone touched upon. Likewise, the atrocities committed in the Holocaust aren’t depicted or discussed,
nor are the repeated discriminations carried out against the Jewish people in the years
leading up to the conflict.

The appearance of the Swastika is used for historical
accuracy. It’s no different than Hollywood blockbuster movies that depict Nazis
and the insignia on their military uniforms, such as the Swastika, to situate the
historical context. The point to differentiate is that while the symbols are
shown, it’s to situate, not promote the horrid racist and imperialist ideology that later became
associated with it after being adopted by the Nazis.

In addition, the content that the Swastika appear in are from
older strips (2007 and 2008) and not the more recent ones. What I believe
happened is that when the manga first began to be published, the publishers
later decided against showing these symbols because of the younger demographic the
series was targeted at. Again, the appearance of the symbol isn’t in itself wrong; it’s the presentation and reason for presentation that matters.
Although, given that Himaruya avoids controversial events in wars and generically depicts war fronts and battles – such as the African War front – its appearance wasn’t really necessary or needed.

My bias – Personal
bias made me overlook blatantly obvious details. It’s not that I purposefully
ignored them either. I read and re-read the strips, but the Swastikas in the background
didn’t register in my mind. I think what happened is that my own heritage caused me to ignore what was right in front of me. I’m half-Jewish and have
grandparents who have lost whole sides of their families in the Holocaust. I
suppose what happened is that this aversion toward the Swastika symbol made my eyes blind to them. I recognize this, and I’m 100% owning up to my mistake.

Other than that, nothing else has changed. Canon evidence
still shows that Germany was forced to comply with orders during WW2 against
his will, that he was unfavourable of and had unpleasant relations with Hitler,
that he experienced pain in his daily life during the war (likely from the civil unrest in his country), and that he and
other nations still treated each other as friends when off the battlefield. I’ll
cover this all in an upcoming post tonight and will link all online source material.

Once again, I apologize for the inconvenience, and I’ll
strive to be better.

-Ella