“The inspector general of the Bundeswehr (Germany’s armed forces) has ordered an inspection of all of its properties in order to see if any of them contain memorabilia of the Wehrmacht and if so, to remove it,” a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

The Wehrmacht was the army which served the Nazi regime.

The move follows a growing scandal over far-right leanings of some within the German military which has shaken the army and the defence ministry over the past two weeks.

Details emerged in late April following the arrest of a 28-year-old soldier stationed at a Franco-German base near Strasbourg who had expressed far-right extremist views and wasplotting an attack disguised as a Syrian refugee.

Following his arrest, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen scrapped a trip to the United States and went to his base in Illkirch in northeastern France.

There, officials found Wehrmacht memorabilia openly displayed in the common room without any apparent effort to remove it.