Neo-nazi groups were enraged by the miniseries, because it told the truth about the Nazi atrocities that they had spent decades denying happened. Many of these groups contacted NBC and demanded that the miniseries either be pulled from airing as "anti-German propaganda" or be "balanced" by an equal amount of time presenting the neo-Nazis view of events. NBC both ignored the neo-Nazis' demands and turned over all of their letters to national newspapers and TV stations, resulting in them being publicly humiliated.
The manner in which Erik Dorf joins the SS, as well as the uniforms he wears throughout the series, are a combination of different SS branches and offices. When Dorf first applies to join the SS in 1935 he appears in a black General-SS (Allgemeine-SS) uniform apparently as a member of the SD. He also begins with the rank of SS-Lieutenant, seemingly never having served in the enlisted ranks. He next appears in 1938 as a member of the Security Police (Sipo) which was a plain clothes police agency not technically part of the SS, although many members of the Sipo were also part of the SS. In the later part of the mini-series, Dorf wears a gray wartime SS tunic, seemingly with the police insignia of an SS major, yet wears the SS runes collar insignia which were normally only displayed by members of the Waffen-SS.
Before the miniseries aired, enraged American neo-Nazis organized several protests and a large letter-writing campaign to demand that NBC cancel the series and apologize for "spreading lies against Germany". Several other far-right groups, "conceding" that the series would air against their wishes, later demanded that NBC give them equal time to the miniseries to present their revisionism and denial per fairness doctrines. The network ignored them, but did include a title card giving the timing and context of scenes, along with a Parental Discretion warning for graphically violent and disturbing images.