Can you see the Nazi symbols in this ad? (Picture: Edeka)

Germany’s largest supermarket has been forced to deny that its jaunty Christmas ad contains hidden pro-Nazi messages.

Edeka’s advert features two cars with number plates that have common neo-Nazi symbols in them, commonly used by white supremacists to covertly identify themselves to each other.

The first car, a Volvo, has the license plate ‘MU SS 420’. 420 is a well-known Nazi code because it represents Hitler’s birthday – April 20. It’s particularly common among the far-right in the US.

Germans are banned from having SS on their license plates (Picture: Edeka)

Perhaps even more damning is the ‘SS’, however.


In Germany it is actually forbidden to have SS on number plates because of its association with the Schutzstaffel.



Then there is this car in the garage, which has the license plate SO LL 3849.

84 and 39 are also well-known Nazi symbols (Picture: Edeka)

While it seems innocent enough, 84 is known as a Nazi abbreviation for the eighth and fourth letters of the alphabet, H and D, which stand for ‘Heil Deutschland’.

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In the same way 39 is C and I, standing for Christian Identity – a well-known antisemitic religious ideological group.

Sabine Bamberger Stemmann, director of the agency of civic education in Hamburg, told Manager Magazin that there’s no way the Nazi symbolism was a coincidence.

‘The 420 comes from the Anglo-Saxon area, but in right wing circles here it’s also the established abbreviation for Hitler’s birthday,’ she said. ‘The “84” clearly stands for Heil Deutschland. The statement being made is very clear.’

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She added that it was ‘disarming and implausible’ that the codes were not put there on purpose, considering the sheer number of them present in the ad.

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And as well as the symbols, she said the advert was also trying to ‘convey an idyllic world, thereby conveying values that the new right stands for’.

However Edeka strongly denies the association, saying that the number plates were random and any symbolism was coincidental.

They say the symbols were coincidental (Picture: Edeka)

Despite ‘SS’ being banned in the country, Edeka said ‘MU SS’ in the first number plate was supposed to read ‘muss’, or ‘must’, because it’s one of the key messages in the advert.

‘The number plate with ‘MU SS’ is a fantasy number plate, based on the title song in our spot,’ a spokesman told German media. ‘We regret the fact that a wrong impression is created here. This was in no way our intention.’