{"id":50639,"date":"2024-05-14T23:21:56","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T23:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/14\/german-court-fines-far-right-leader-for-using-nazi-phrase\/"},"modified":"2024-05-14T23:21:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T23:21:56","slug":"german-court-fines-far-right-leader-for-using-nazi-phrase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/14\/german-court-fines-far-right-leader-for-using-nazi-phrase\/","title":{"rendered":"German Court Fines Far-Right Leader for Using Nazi Phrase"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/14\/multimedia\/14germany-hocke-ltwv\/14germany-hocke-ltwv-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,549&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"German Court Fines Far-Right Leader for Using Nazi Phrase\" title=\"German Court Fines Far-Right Leader for Using Nazi Phrase\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A German court on Tuesday found a prominent far-right politician from the Alternative for Germany party guilty of using a banned Nazi slogan during a campaign speech in 2021.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A panel of four judges fined the politician, Bj\u00f6rn H\u00f6cke, head of the AfD in the eastern state of Thuringia, 13,000 euros, roughly $14,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The trial, which Mr. H\u00f6cke\u2019s defense tried to portray as a battle for free political speech, was watched closely because the AfD stands to make significant electoral gains in state elections this year and because of Mr. H\u00f6cke\u2019s well-documented extremist views.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. H\u00f6cke seemed to deflate when he heard the verdict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During the trial, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/18\/world\/europe\/german-far-right-hocke-trial.html?searchResultPosition=3\" title=\"\">which began last month<\/a> in the city of Halle, Mr. H\u00f6cke admitted to using the phrase \u201cEverything for Germany\u201d but claimed that he had not known about its Nazi origin and compared it to the American slogan \u201cAmerica first.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the fact that Mr. H\u00f6cke was previously a high school history teacher and that his party has repeatedly run into legal trouble for using the exact same phrase undermined his argument, leading to the court\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Using Nazi phrases, gestures, symbols or uniforms is against the law in Germany and is punishable by up to three years in prison. The slogan was used by the S.A. Stormtroopers, the paramilitary wing of the Nazi party, which engraved it on their standard-issue knives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The prosecution argued that Mr. H\u00f6cke\u2019s use of the term was part of a strategy of introducing ever more extreme language into the national discourse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Johannes Hillje, who studies communication of populist parties, says the phrase is especially well suited for changing the acceptability of extremist language because, stripped of historical context, it seems perfectly harmless.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s important that the court confirmed legal limits in the face of Bj\u00f6rn H\u00f6cke\u2019s strategy of shifting the discourse,\u201d said Mr. Hillje after the verdict was announced.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The verdict comes months before an election for the Thuringian legislature that could, for the first time since the end of the Nazi regime in 1945, put a far-right party in control of a state government. As the party\u2019s leader in that state, Mr. H\u00f6cke could become the equivalent of a state governor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But despite its popularity with voters, the AfD is dealing with a number setbacks that began over revelations in January that party functionaries had participated in a secret meeting with other far-right activists to discuss deportations of non-Germans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a separate court decision on Monday, an administrative court in M\u00fcnster, 200 miles to the west, dismissed a lawsuit brought by the AfD that sought to prohibit domestic intelligence from classifying the party as \u201csuspected extremist.\u201d The classification gives the intelligence agency, known by its German acronym BfV, special surveillance powers under German laws.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last month, the police <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/23\/world\/europe\/germany-china-spying.html\" title=\"\">arrested an aide<\/a> to Maximilian Krah, the party\u2019s top candidate for the upcoming European Union parliamentary elections, on the suspicion that he worked as a Chinese intelligence agent. While Mr. Krah has distanced himself from the aide, the investigation into the affair is continuing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Tuesday evening, the judge in Mr. H\u00f6cke\u2019s case, Jan Stengel, read the verdict after Mr. H\u00f6cke and his three defense lawyers delivered final statements. Mr. H\u00f6cke\u2019s defense argued that the slogan was widely used and predated the Nazi era; it also argued that freedom of speech was more important than the prohibition of certain phrases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. H\u00f6cke directed an unusually passionate rebuke at the public prosecutor who had presented the case, saying he was hurt that the prosecution had not sought to dismiss the case after hearing his explanation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cDo we want to ban the German language because the Nazis also spoke German?\u201d said Mr. H\u00f6cke. \u201cHow far will this go?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At one point in his speech, Judge Stengel interrupted Mr. H\u00f6cke to remind him that he was not holding a political rally.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In delivering its verdict, the court made clear that it did not agree with Mr. H\u00f6cke\u2019s view of free speech, even if Judge Stengel said a prison sentence was disproportionate for someone who did not have a criminal record. The judge also said he believed Mr. H\u00f6cke had used the phrase on purpose.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe have the feeling that the mantle of freedom of expression is being severely overused,\u201d Judge Stengel said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. H\u00f6cke faces two other criminal cases over speech that are not yet scheduled. He has a week to appeal Tuesday\u2019s verdict before it becomes binding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/14\/world\/europe\/germany-afd-nazi-hocke.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A German court on Tuesday found a prominent far-right politician from the Alternative for Germany party guilty of using a banned Nazi slogan during a campaign speech in 2021. A panel of four judges fined the politician, Bj\u00f6rn H\u00f6cke, head of the AfD in the eastern state of Thuringia, 13,000 euros, roughly $14,000. The trial, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/14\/multimedia\/14germany-hocke-ltwv\/14germany-hocke-ltwv-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1625,724,6353,10563,1891,11331,50711],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50639"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50641,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50639\/revisions\/50641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}