I used to do the same with my Maltese-Poodle X …sit her on my lap, and move her shoulder so her whole arm would shoot out in a ‘Hitler’ salute. Dunno about the dog, but I thought it was funny.
Then we got a Labrador, and it didn’t work so well on her…she was too fat to sit on my lap to allow me to manipulate her front leg in the same way.
Anyway, from what I’ve read in the papers tonight, the charges against this guy have been dropped. Let’s hope so. I’m sure there are many other more important things for the courts to take up their valuable time with.
Because of the effects of the Nazi war machine across Europe. It’s considered highly offensive and degrading to allow the Nazi symbol or salutes to be displayed or encouraged.
Like it or lump it, these are the laws in some countries, and I agree with them entirely.
What bothers me is the “highly offensive” = “illegal” theory.
While the Nazis were in power, people endured hell on earth. And now, because their descendants can’t withstand a bit of offense, everyone is to behave as though it can never happen again. Nothing could more ensure that it will happen again.
It’s illegal in Germany to display nazi isignia. Others have fallen foul of this - some Hell’s Angels actually got jailed for having some symbols on their jackets.
No doubt it is to prevent anybody trying to reform the party.
As to this bloke - he’s obviously a mentalist. It’s not as if he’s going to set fire to the reichstag.
My dog does nazi salutes. i give him a biscuit when he does. I call it “shaking hands” however he may be a closet fascist (like my cat). It’s hard to tell.
Until a historical symbol or idea you like is deemed punishible by the criminal justice system.
Yes, a man with a dog called “Adolph” that makes it do unseemly tricks is the same is the fucking blitzkrieg. Let’s assume that for a minute. No, wait, I can’t do that.
What about Saddam Hussein? He produced actual mass graves? Why not ban Islamism? Or, Communism? Both are violent ideologies responsible for mass murder.
Don’t be daft. Nazism has a very recognisable “brand identity”.
The german law dates from immediately after the war when there was an extensive programme of denazification. It bans all elements of Nazism, eg swastikas, SS lightening strikes/deaths heads etc. I am sure you can see the thinking behind this.
However being arrested for haviing a mutt called adolph does imply that the germans were a little overzealous in this case.
The Germans are not exactly famous for their sense of humour.
The point is, Beagle, that Nazism happened in Germany. The horrors that Germany ‘collectively’ inflicted on Europe are still within living memory. So symbols of Naziism are illegal in Germany. It’s the coice of (the vast majority of) the people of Germany. If the new prospective government of Iraq bans symbols of Ba’athism or images of Hussein, will anyone weep?
Sure, denazification was important when there were actual Nazis in power in Germany. The Nazis that didn’t kill themselves, or get captured, have mostly been hunted down or died of natural causes. The youngest prison guard is getting long in the tooth by now.
As a military historian I’ve always been very interested in the formation of panzer units – the dawning of modern armored warfare. So, technically, I am actually obsessed with the methods of the blitzkrieg. But, I’m a harmless moderate with NAZI SYMBOLS all over some books I have.
Why can’t we get some European human rights charges against the ACTUAL brutal dictators in the Middle East? I know shepard mix dogs that give paw are a priority, but what about actual state killers?
Not George Bush, we already know Guantanimo is far more serious than dozens of mass graves in Iraq filled with the families of people the regime didn’t like, not to mention the people themselves.
I have no problem with that, and I’m sure there are many people like you in Germany and many archives of such memorabilia in universities and research centers.
however, you aren’t getting dressed up in this memorabilia, trying to display it publically for reasons of promoting the ideals behind it, nor trying to sell it to profit from it.
neither Islam nor Communism were created with the ideal of Wholesale destruction of people based on irrelevant criteria. While there undoubtedly has been attrocities carried out in the application of such ethos’, the came can be said for Christianity, Capitalism, Empiricism, Democracy, and the majority of ideals that people have believed in fervently enough to kill for.
Here in the United States the KKK and the Neo-Nazis are allowed to hold rallies and people are allowed to hold counter rallies. I think they have to seek approval though–if the cops stumble onto a cross burning, it’s illegal. Are Confederate flags allowed in Europe?
I think there’s a bit of “Fallacy of the Slippery Slope”-ism going on here. It’s not “first they took my Swastika, now they’ve come for my Christian Democrat button” - it’s a specific law relating to a single, specific horror, the like of which had never been visited on the earth before. The ban is to prevent the group that kicked it off ever, ever darkening that country and its neighbours ever again.
Beagle:
I’m not familiar with the law concerning political symbols in Germany, so I don’t know if communist symbols could be prohibited under some circumstances.
However, Germany once outlawed communist parties. A political party can be outlawed when its principles are in opposition to the free and democratic system of government (“freiheitliche und demokratischen Grundordnung”). Such a party would be unconstitutional in Germany.
“On November 9, 1923, in the fourth year of its existence, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was dissolved and prohibited in the whole Reich territory. Today in November, 1926, it stands again free before us, stronger and inwardly firmer than ever before.” — Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
