Note: This post does not make any light or justification of the atrocities that took place during WW2. What I am attempting to do is prove how a historical, social, and political context can be situated without glorifying the accompanying violence and horrid ideology of the time.
What this post will prove is how Hetalia doesn’t promote Nazism and Fascism. Instead, it is a series that promotes peace, friendship, and consolidation, rather than the racist and imperialist ideologies that it is often lumped with due to the time period that the manga originally took place.
Historical Situation vs Promoting a Horrid Ideology
I’ll be blunt and show the strips first before unpacking them.
Swastikas are, in fact, shown in the manga.
A Swastika is shown on a voting poll when Germany holds a vote in Austria to see how many Austrians were in favor of being annexed [x].
A Swastika is shown in the background as Germany and Austria watch their troops head off for war at the beginning of WW2 [x].
All right. The crucial point that I want to stress here is the difference between situating a historical context and promoting a horrid ideology – in this case Fascism and Nazism.
Just by showing the Swastika, the series isn’t inherently pro-Nazi. This is no different than Hollywood blockbuster movies that depict Nazi war officers in their uniforms, insignia and all. It’s to be historically accurate. Showing the symbol versus promoting what it represents as political propaganda are two vastly different things.
It’s a slippery slope to assume that just because Nazi insignia is shown in Hetalia that it automatically supports their ideology. This couldn’t be any farther from the truth. The Swastika’s purpose here is that it acts as a symbol for the German gov’t of the time – not to be confused with the German people in whole.
Not only that, but Hetalia purposefully avoids covering the monstrous atrocities committed in WW2. It’s too controversial of a subject to depict, and Himaruya stays far away from it, only dropping vague hints here and there.
In later volumes, likely because of the younger demographic the printed manga was targeted at, the Swastika doesn’t show up again. The series also has a habit of depicting generic battles and war fronts rather than the nuanced and sensitive subject of the domestic situation at home. Again, showing these symbols isn’t inherently wrong in itself. It’s how and why the symbols were presented that matters. In this case, they were drawn for historical accuracy, NOT to promote what they stood for under the Nazi regime.
What does the manga cover?
Because the manga avoids certain subjects, there is only so much that it can cover. In this case, the manga only situates the motivating reason why the Germans went to war – namely, the high debt, inflation, and lowered standard of living that the German people shouldered as a result of the financial compensation they owed after the first world war.
Ex: Germany grows poor after WW1 and is stuck making cuckoo clocks for France.
The Treaty of Versailles left a bitter taste in the mouths of the German people.
Hitler promised to change that, and he did. In the strip above, we see the people cheering because they had just come out of a massive economic recession. Hitler promised that the war would better their country. What the manga does not cover is the racialization, ostracization, discrimination and scapegoating of the Jewish people that also occurred during this time. All that’s shown is the people’s hope that the war will better their circumstances.
Ex: This strip here also situates why the Germans went to war [x].
“Because UK, France, and America had colonies,
they somehow managed to get past the worst.
But Germany, Italy, and Japan, being without colonies,
got damaged rather harshly to the point
where even their marrow was being gnawed upon.
Germany had to pay for the daunting compensation of World War I.
Italy was impoverished due to the fact that he could not adapt
to the changing times and industrialize fast enough.
And Japan is suffering from a second bought of SUPER ECONOMIC SLUMP.
These three nations were pretty deeply hurt.”
And from this appeared Italy and Germany�s bosses.
The overture of this crisis will become rather (;�∀�)”
Notice how Himaruya trails off after mentioning the crisis that propelled the rise of Fascism. People who are at their worst will turn in desperation to people who promise them the best. Unfortunately, these leaders who promised the best only made things [way] worse. Point is, the manga doesn’t tackle any subject matter past this and doesn’t cover it in detail.
Lastly, in the scene where the crowds are cheering, notice what the topic of discussion is. It has nothing to do with glorifying Fascism, nationalism or the German government. Instead, it shows a worried and fearful Italy tearing up as he gets Germany and Austria to promise him that they won’t get hurt during the war.
This brings me to my next point. The manga purposefully characterizes the nations in a way that differentiates them from the actions of their government. Let’s go over that.
As stated in chapter 1 of World Stars, the nations are often forced to comply with their bosses’ orders [x]. A full, more detailed post on this can be found here [x].
Evidence of this for Germany and his relationship with Hitler in particular is made to be very clear.
Ex: Germany is forced to annex Austria against his will [x].
Ex: Germany forms an alliance with Russia not because he wants to, but because it’s his duty [x].
Ex: Germany is screamed at when he’s given orders [x].
Ex: Germany is noted to have boss troubles – “strange” is a purposefully vague euphemism for how awful Hitler was.
Ex: While initially joking at first, Finland hints at the real possibility of Hitler being capable of imprisoning Germany should he complain about him too much.
More importantly, I want to point out again that the nations exist because of their people in whole, not because of their government [x].
They exist to represent their citizens; the government is a small minority of what they represent. The irony in the series is that while the nations exist as representations of their citizens, the fact that they’re forced to obey government orders often results in them not representing/ serving their people well politically.
As stated in “In just 2 minutes, you can grasp the exterior of the European economy,” we learn that when a nation’s politics and/ or economy is unstable, they become unwell [x]. For the purpose of this post, I’ll be talking about domestic political struggles and civilian unrest.
Ex: External political struggles and infighting among groups within his population causes China’s body to ache in pain [x] [x].
Nationality is nationality – it doesn’t discriminate across groups. A German is a German, regardless of their ethnicity, culture, or religion. It’s for this reason that I believe Germany is canonically described to tolerate his days through pain during WW2 [x].
German Jews were still German. They were still Germany’s people. In addition, in the later years of the war, the constant bombings, the terror of the Gestapo, and the suppression of those Germans who fought against and criticized the Nazi regime all amalgamated into a messy domestic situation. Germany felt the pain of his people, all of them.
Perhaps this is why when he’s captured as a prisoner of war, he cites that in comparison to his daily life, torture is nothing more than a mosquito bite to him.
While there are many admittedly wrong and controversial tropes in older characterizations and strips in the series, promoting Fascism, war, and Nazism is something that Hetalia has never done.
You also have to remember that the nations themselves are people in their own right. They grew up together, and while their formal interactions with each other are indeed affected by their current political relations, their personal relationships are more so defined by their past. It’s for this reason that you’ll often see nations drop their political personas and treat each other as fellow humans and friends during times of war.
Ex: When the Axis and Allies get shipwrecked, political masks are dropped when Italy asks not to pick a fight.
Ex: Italy’s first reaction when he’s shipwrecked is joy over not having to fight anymore.
Ex: When America occupies Rome, he treats the Italy brothers as friends and politely asks for them to make him authentic Italian food [x].
Ex: In another shipwrecked strip, Italy calls forth Santa – Finland – to temporarily stop the fighting.
Ex: Enemy nations have been shown to share their rations with each other when they’re not on the battlefield [x].
Ex: England and Germany in another Christmas strip agree not to fight and play soccer together.
In conclusion, Hetalia doesn’t promote Nazism, Fascism, and war. What it did was situate the historical context by depicting historically accurate details. At the same time, it avoided getting into the complicated nuances of the controversial ideologies and unforgivable atrocities committed during this period. If anything, it is a series that promotes peace, friendship, and cooperation.
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