Right, the FSK control is the problem though. I think rewriting your history or pretending it didn't happen is sort of Orwellian. Why stop at Swastikas? What about the families of veterans who died fighting those wars yet we still allow German and US/UK kids to kill each other in games. Who draws the line in the sand? Who decides where it is drawn and where it stops? Seems like a slippery slope.
I thought Aerafield and Daddy-g were right on, especially "100% agree. I mean, going out on the streets and (ab)using this type of symbols etc. should always be prohibited... but seriously, leave video games just as they are"
I've heard this line of argument quite a few times online from non germans and it's just so fundamentally wrong. History isn't rewritten. In certain cases trying to rewrite history will land you in jail. The nazi history is omnipresent in the public debate here in Germany. Your assumption about Germans blocking out history couldn't be more wrong. It's like saying the US is communist or saudi arabia a liberal country or switzerland a dictatorship. If you want an example of a country not shying away from confronting its history first country you think of should be Germany.
You're confusing two things. Nazi history and modern day right wing extremism as a topic is the opposite of a taboo here in Germany. There is still a certain sense of guilt present in German society and the general attitude is that national socialism has to be talked about regularly so it's not forgotten and mistakes won't be repeated etc etc.
You will hear this narrative all the time in Germany so it can get annoying (you can only watch so many documentaries about hitler, have so many remembrance days for nazi atrocities xyz and so on before it gets on your nerves) but most people generally agree with it.
The exertion of national socialism however is a massive taboo. To the extent that the more explicit forms are straight up ciminalized. (swastikas, hitler salute etc) If the party closest to national socialism ideologically (NPD) would gain significant followership it'd be banned in no time. The only reason it hasn't happened yet is that it's feared a ban would give modern day nazis argumentative leverage and the party is practically meaningless.
Imo CoH is different from movies or story driven video games like Wolfenstein in the sense that people identify a lot with the factions (which is retarded but they still do it). I'm not too keen on giving them the symbolic material to go with.