The Finnish Air Force has uncertainly dropped the conspicuous logo of the swastika, used since 1917, confirmed on Wednesday.
The Air Force Command unit has replaced its old logo, an agency spokesperson with a golden swastika placed in the middle of a set of wings and a golden eagle on a blue badge. Approved to BBC News Wednesday.
“It was considered practical and unnecessary to continue to use the old unit emblem, which occasionally caused misunderstanding, while the unit emblems were worn on the uniform,” said the spokesperson.
The change was first spotted by a Finnish professor on Twitter on Tuesday Teivo Teivainen University of Helsinki. The Air Force said it has been slowly eliminating swastika emblems for the eagle design over the past few years.
The Swastika was a common design motif dating back thousands of years and adorning everything from buildings to sports uniforms before indelibly bonding with Nazism and the Holocaust.
While an ally of Nazi Germany during World War II, the Finnish Air Force used swastikas of uniforms, planes, and other capacities that extended shortly after its independence in 1917.
The agency told the BBC that the swastika remained on some Air Force unit flags and decorations, but no longer used as the badge of the Central Air Force Command.
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