German soldiers have been instructed to tear out size labels from their new camouflage uniforms because they bear the initials “SS”, apparently an abbreviation for “small, short”.
In recent weeks the defence ministry has distributed about 313,000 sets of combat clothing, including helmets, sleeping bags and waterproof jackets and trousers, to the troops at a cost of €2.3 billion.
While most were labelled according to the usual English-language terms for their sizes — S, M, L and XL — it appears no thought had been given to how the smallest items might be categorised.
The letters “SS” are associated with the Schutzstaffel, the vast and brutal Nazi paramilitary organisation that spread terror across the Third Reich’s territories and carried out much of the Holocaust.
It
