Word: nazis
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...Nuremberg, the gnome's gesture touched a particularly raw nerve. The city played a key role in Hitler's rise to power, hosting the Nazi Party's annual rallies. In 1935 it gave its name to the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws, and later witnessed trials of war criminals. Now the gnome incident has some Germans questioning whether the country's strict anti-Nazi laws remain relevant in 2009. Germans have long understood that their country's constant struggle to distance itself from its past might mean it is doomed never to escape it. But what, some people are asking, does...
...able to defend itself against forces hostile to democracy. The Grundgesetz guarantees basic rights like freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, but it also gives the state the power to ban organizations that threaten the democratic order. Clauses prohibiting the use of symbols which violate the constitution, including Nazi symbols, were added to the German penal code in 1960. In the past few decades, as Germany has seen a rise in right-wing extremism, these laws have been used as tools against neo-Nazis. In 1994, denying the Holocaust itself became a crime. (See pictures of Kristallnacht...
...question of how authorities should interpret Germany's anti-Nazi laws is increasingly complicated. In the past, courts have banned everything from model airplanes bearing swastikas to postcards showing Hitler's picture. Even anti-Nazi symbols have been considered criminal: two years ago, the owner of a mail-order business faced a fine for selling T shirts and buttons with crossed-out swastikas on them, until a federal court overturned the ruling...
...January, controversy flared when the German state of Bavaria banned Zeitungszeugen, a weekly publication containing facsimiles of Nazi-era newspapers. The series gives a chronological look at events in Germany from January 1933, when Hitler became Chancellor, to the end of World War II in 1945. As well as reprints of original Nazi and communist papers, it includes commentary written by eminent historians...
Bavaria accused the publisher, Briton Peter McGee, of breaching Germany's laws by disseminating Nazi propaganda; some Jewish groups warned that the reproductions of the Third Reich papers could be misused by neo-Nazi groups. But McGee fought back, saying the reprints were educational. After a noisy public debate and a court case that ended in McGee's favor, Bavarian authorities were forced to back down. The publication is now available - and selling well - at newsagents in most German cities...