Several German churches have been accused of using six bells bearing the swastika and Nazi inscriptions.

The Evangelical Church in Thuringia has been accused of violating the country’s ban on the use of Nazi symbols.

The unidentified plaintiff accused the church of using six bells in five churches, including on Holocaust Remembrance Day, Die Welt reported.

The plaintiff, who is a relative of Nazi victims, complained he had been ignored after repeatedly asking the church to stop using the bells.

A spokesman for the church told the KNA news agency the inscriptions could be removed, but such action would need to be reconciled with rules on the preservation of historical monuments.

A Day That Shook The World: Hitler elected German Chancellor Show all 3 1 /3 A Day That Shook The World: Hitler elected German Chancellor A Day That Shook The World: Hitler elected German Chancellor 30th January 1933: Soldier and statesman President Paul von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (1847 - 1934) handing over the rule of Germany to the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945). Getty Images A Day That Shook The World: Hitler elected German Chancellor Chancellor Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945) and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen (1879 - 1969, centre) on their way to open the first session of the German Reichstag under Nazi rule, 1933. Getty Images A Day That Shook The World: Hitler elected German Chancellor Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945) and Dr Robert Ley (1890 - 1945) meet a line of workers at a party congress, 1935. Getty Images

“The bells concerned are not publicly accessible,” Friedemann Kahl said. “We are confident that we’ll find a good solution.”

But the state’s finance minister and vice premier, Heike Taubert, said it could help pay for replacement bells.

“Nazi bells belong to the dark side of our history,” Ms Taubert said. “I don’t make much of concealing their location or altering them.”

The plaintiff has also filed a complaint against the town of Herxheim am Berg after the town allowed a bell dedicated to Hitler to continue to hang in a church.

They said the decision was a "mockery of the victims of Hitler's terror".

The bell features a Swastika and the words: “Everything for the fatherland – Adolf Hitler.”

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