hitler stamp
© GTRK Oryol video screenshot 4
The Russian city of Oryol has removed souvenir postage stamps featuring Adolf Hitler's portrait from local newspaper kiosks. The country has stringent laws on Nazi propaganda, but the producers insist the stamps are patriotic.

The reproduction stamps, which were being sold for 290 rubles ($3.80) each, came to investigators' attention after they were reported on by a local TV channel. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the products have now been withdrawn from sale.

During World War 2, Oryol was occupied by Nazi Germany for nearly two years, and was almost completely destroyed. The news report explained that the stamps were printed in Karelia, in Russia's north-west, by the organization "For the Motherland." In a statement provided to the media, the organization's head Vladislav Grin explained that the photo is not copied from a propaganda poster, but a genuine portrait from the era. "It is, on the contrary, a strengthening of the heroic context of the great Victory over criminal fascist Germany," he said. The stamp is sold with a warning about the prohibition on Nazi propaganda.

According to the Prosecutor, both the head of the kiosk company and the director of the commercial service at the printing company were warned not to infringe the law. Earlier this year, Russia's Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case after pictures of Hitler and SS leader Heinrich Himmler were found on the website of Immortal Regiment, a movement that celebrates Soviet veterans of World War II.