A German man must now pay a fine for publicly questioning on the X platform why one slogan is banned in the country while another is permitted.
In an X post responding to a left-wing account, he wrote: “I have a question: Why is ‘Germany, die!’ legal and ‘Everything for Germany’ forbidden?”
The phrase “Germany, die!” is shouted at left-wing Antifa demonstrations, but the slogan is not banned in Germany or deemed a punishable offense.
However, the phrase “Everything for Germany,” is indeed banned, as the German state deems it to be a pro-Nazi “symbol of unconstitutional organizations.” Perhaps the most famous case involving the phrase in recent years involved Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Björn Höcke, who was sentenced with a fine of €13,000 for an election campaign speech where he said: “Everything for our homeland, everything for Saxony-Anhalt, everything for Germany.”
Höcke denied that he knew the phrase had anything to do with the Nazi era, but the court disagreed.
NIUS reports that the X user Reinhard R. now has to pay €2,250 for even questioning why he cannot utter the phrase while the left calls for the death of Germany with impunity. In total, Reinhard R. ended up paying €4,000 in legal fees. The fine will produce a criminal record for the German man.
The man was responding to the left-wing X account of “querdenkerRAUS.”
“‘We give everything for Thuringia, everything for Germany.’ If that’s punishable just because the last three words were also used by the National Socialists, what else would have to be on the list of LEFT-WING vocabulary?” asked Reinhard R.
In another question, he asked: “I have a question: Why is ‘Germany, die’ legal and ‘Everything for Germany’ forbidden?”
The tweet was then forwarded by the Central Reporting Office for Hate Postings (ZMI), located at the Federal Criminal Police Office. The reporting office was established in 2022 to monitor citizens’ speech and seek criminal and civil penalties against those targeted by the office.
The court determined that the man was aware that the “that the slogan ‘Everything for Germany’ was used by the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary combat organization of the NSDAP.”
Reinhard R. said he does not understand why he was fined.
“I asked an open-ended question,” he told NIUS, saying he did not support the statement, only quoted it. However, his attorney told him to close the matter as quickly as possible by paying the fine.
Germany has gone on a massive free speech crackdown in recent years, including raiding the houses of those deemed to be “insulting” politicians. Former Economic Minister Robert Habeck filed 800 complaints against citizens who “insulted” him, often for something as simple as calling him an “idiot,” which led to house raids and searches against many of the targets.
The problem has become so dire that even publications such as the Economist, not normally known for challenging left-liberal governments, is calling Germany out in a piece entitled: The threat to free speech in Germany: One of the freest countries in the world takes a hammer to its own reputation.”