Fight against free speech: German Court interprets anti-Nazi post as right-wing extremist

A man criticizes National Socialism – and ends up in court. Not for glorifying it, but for comparing it to the present. A judicial ruling from Baden-Württemberg shows how a statute designed to protect against Nazi propaganda is turning into an instrument by which sharp criticism of the government comes under criminal suspicion. This is precisely the development J.D. Vance warned about a year ago. NIUS has obtained the court decision and analyzes its full social implications.

This is the text prosecutors consider potentially criminal:

“HOW IT STARTED IN 1933The media was controlled,parties were banned,children were indoctrinated,opinions were suppressed,the people were divided,reporting offices were established,dissenters were betrayed,citizens were defamed”

Exactly one year ago, the current U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance struck unusually harsh tones toward Germany and the European Union. In a widely noted speech, he warned that freedom of expression in Europe was increasingly coming under state pressure. He emphasized the shared values of America and Europe, rooted in a common historical genesis, and admitted self-critically that the United States, too, had failed to live up to them in the recent past – during the COVID period.

J.D. Vance said what German elites don't want to hear.

He said: “For years we’ve been told that everything we fund and support – from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship – is done in the name of our shared democratic values. But when we see European courts overturn elections and senior officials threatening to do so again, we should ask whether we ourselves are holding to equally high standards. And I say ‘ourselves’ because I firmly believe we are on the same side. We must do more than just talk about democratic values; we must live them.”