YouTube condemned for showing video clips glorifying Nazi troops and Hitler.

By Daily Mail Reporter, Last updated at 1:19 PM on 30th December 2008.

Video-sharing website YouTube has been condemned for showing video clips glorifying Nazi troops.

The scenes, accompanied by militaristic music, have drawn millions of hits from potential Nazi sympathisers and voyeurs.

YouTube, which hosts film clips from the public, has 2,880 items on the Waffen SS, the most fanatical of Hitler’s soldiers who were indicted for war crimes throughout WW2.

The entries have a string of ‘Sieg Heil’ comments and praise for the fighting prowess of the Waffen SS, recruited for their unswerving loyalty to Nazism.

The videos, some from Nazi propaganda news reels, have angered Jewish organisations who have called for YouTube to remove the ‘hugely offensive’ postings, including one that features the headline ‘Hitler Was Right’ directly below the YouTube logo.

Senior Liberal Democrat MP Susan Kramer was shocked by the content and the amount of SS sites on YouTube.

“Glorifying the Waffen SS or Hitler in any way is sickening,” she said. “YouTube must understand its responsibilities. They should be hunting this type of material down if they want to maintain any credibility.”

She added that YouTube has grown from fringe influence to mainstream source of content and that many young people view it alone where extremist views cannot be challenged by parents and teachers.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it continues to be ‘very concerned about the level of racist and anti-Semitic content on the internet’.

The YouTube clips include excerpts from history programmes but it is clear that many are directed at extremist right-wing elements around the world.

The Waffen SS regimental anthem is posted along with slickly edited montages of troops in heroic poses and Hitler addressing rallies.

One viewer has simply posted a giant swastika made from 134 smaller swastikas.