Section 86a of the German criminal law code prohibits the display of symbols of organizations deemed unconstitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court. For the most part, the law applies to Nazi symbols, but has grown to also include various other emblems used by the far right as stand-ins for the völkisch paraphernalia employed during the Third Reich such as the battle ensign of Imperial Germany. Section 86a not only covers the display of these items or badges during political rallies, but also for such seemingly innocuous items as model aircraft or video games. Plastic models are one particularly notable example of Section 86a in action. Models of Luftwaffe aircraft are among some of the top sellers worldwide and number of manufacturers try to produce the most accurate scale replica of these machines, including their markings. This is a problem since the swastika was one of the standard markings for all German aircraft during the Third Reich. Therefore, the plastic model industry engages in a degree of self-censorship to comply with German law. For example, lot of box art for Luftwaffe aircraft model kits will have the swastika replaced with a black diamond, such as this Shigeo Koike painting of a Bf-109 of angle the composition so that the wing obscures the swastika, seen here in Koike's depiction of a Ju-188. A number of model companies will also have the swastika decal located off to the side where it could easily be cut off for the German market without damaging the rest of the decal sheet. Other manufacturers produce separate decals that when joined can form a swastika, but otherwise are just a series of bars. German federal law tends to turn a blind eye to these ersatz markings, but German model shows will sometimes have rules that the require post-it notes to be placed over the swastikas for competition.

The logic behind banning the these items is that these symbols are dangerous to the constitutional order and democracy and thus recreating them for the purposes of private entertainment is not worth the risk of allowing these symbols to become more prominent. Section 86a makes provisions for displays that are of an educational or artistic nature, but this yardstick often means that a video game like Wolfenstein or South Park: The Stick of Truth do not pass that muster and manufacturers are less likely to want argue their case before the German federal courts.

Although the crackdown on unconstitutional symbols in consumer items started gaining speed in the 1970s, this ban and restriction on symbols had its origins in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. The Basic Law of the FRG tread a very fine line between wanting to enshrine the rights of the individual but also erect legal provisions against the resurrection of an antidemocratic spirit inside Germany. Although the far-right was a fairly marginal electoral phenomena throughout the history of the FRG, the very presence of various far-right parties like the German Reich Party was very unnerving to the establishment and an international embarrassment for the image of a responsible "new" Germany. Section 86a also gained new currency in the 1990s with the rise of skinheadism and its attending xenophobia. Like their Cold War forebears, the fact that these groups were on the margins from mainstream German society did not lessen the alarm such groups raised, as seen in this Der Spiegel cover from 1992. Far from trying to forget the past, the German government's various bans on symbols is a reminder that images from the past still have a power and that some of them are so antithetical to the spirit of German democracy they need to be restricted from public view.