by the double-digit numbers 01 to 08 for the then seven rural districts in the Saar Protectorate and its capital . Nor were these codes later taken into consideration for newly formed districts in former GDR: The district used the name of its capital, Pirna, in its code PIR, to avoid the use of SS. When the districts of Torgau, Delitzsch and Oschatz merged into , they combined their initials into TDO, instead of abbreviating Northern Saxony as NS. On the other hand, the area codes HH and AH were chosen for and former district , although they could be interpreted as and , respectively. In everyday German, the letters AH are not regarded as an obvious abbreviation for that name, even less so in the 1950s when the lists were created. Nonetheless, these two-letter codes and the respective numerals 18 and 88, signifying the first and eighth letter of the alphabet, obviously have developed into Nazi symbols. They are therefore generally avoided in the serial part of licence plates, although they may be found sometimes. Generally, the decision whether or not a certain combination is permitted lies with the respective district authority. In Brandenburg, any plates that are related to Hitler, the Hitler salute, etc. cannot be issued, especially if they would be bearing digits 1888, 8818, 8888 or ending in 88, 888, 188. Nor can the combinations AH 18 and HH 18 be issued to new owners. Some districts however allow these combinations if they are the owner's initials (for example, might be able to get XX-NS 1234). In 2004 in Nuremberg, a car owner was refused a number plate beginning N-PD because of the connection to the political party NPD. After the terror group National Socialist Underground was uncovered in 2011, the city of Nuremberg refused number plates beginning with N-SU and even abolished the respective plates on their own vehicles of (sewage and environmental department). In the 2010s, some districts started banning licence plates with the middle letters IS which resembled the Islamic State. The Herford district registration office ceased issuing registration plates with the combination HF-Z in April 2022 to avoid connotations with the use of the letter "Z" as a symbol for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The combinations STA-SI, S-ED, HEI-L, IZ-AN and WAF-FE are also forbidden or discouraged, to avoid association with Stasi, the of the GDR, the Nazi salute, NAZI