Praising Nazis Remains Crime Under German Law, Top Court Rules

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Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Praising or justifying the Nazi regime remains a crime in Germany, the country’s top constitutional court ruled.

Laws making the offense punishable by a sentence of as much as three years don’t infringe freedom of speech, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, Germany, said in an e-mailed statement today. While the constitution bans outlawing a specific opinion, criminalizing support for the Nazis is “by way of exception” permissible, the court said.

“Given the injustice and terror the Nazi dictatorship caused, this exception is inherent for rules limiting propaganda approving the historic Nazi dictatorship,” the judges wrote. The German constitution “can be understood in great parts as a counterdraft to the totalitarianism of the Nazi regime.”

Germany, which was ruled by the Nazis from 1933 to 1945, has been struggling with its past since the end of World War II. About 6 million Jews were killed during that era and Germany still prosecutes murders committed during that period. Denying the Holocaust is also a crime in the country.

The case arose out of an order banning a new-Nazi meeting to commemorate Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess in the town where he was buried. Hess was sentenced to life in prison in the Nuremberg Trials after the war.