Artikel aus der Times

November 13, 2004

‘SS’ logos force purge of German boutiques

From Roger Boyes in Berlin

DESIGNER jumpers bearing SS-like logos are to be banned, confiscated
and destroyed in Germany’s most far-reaching move against the clothing habits of neo-Nazi sympathisers.

Police raids are being planned against boutiques and factories across
the country after a controversial court ruling earlier this week in
Königs Wusterhausen near Berlin.

The judgment ­ which also authorises the destruction of printing
screens, blocks, plates, and moulds that could be used in clothes
design ­ is sure to trigger a new debate about the limits of state
power: how far can the Government repress the dress code of the
politically incorrect? Does clothing not fall under the constitutional
right to free expression?

Gerd Schnittcher, the state prosecutor, is convinced that the
crackdown on clothes favoured by neo-Nazis is legally and morally
supportable. “The confiscation of logos and clothing is part of our
strategy of zero toleranc e for right-wing extremism,” he said
yesterday.

The main target is the clothing manufacturer Thor Steinar, whose
sweatshirts, pullovers and baseball hats are fashionable among
far-right teenagers, especially in eastern Germany. The company logo
shows an arrow bisected by a lightning flash. The state prosecutor
argues that this is a deliberate combination of the Tyr rune ­ worn on
the armbands of graduate s from Nazi academies in the 1930s ­ and the
so-called Wolfsangel, the embl em carried by several Waffen SS units.

Moreover if the logo is shifted slightly towards the right it
resembles the SS runes worn by every storm trooper. One of the
company’s clothing lines calls itself Division Thor Steinar. The
prosecutor said that this was clearly intended as a homage to the SS
division, commanded by General Felix Steiner who has become a cult figure among neo-Nazis.

The court accepted the prosecution arguments. Nazi insignia, including
the swastika and SS flashes, are banned by law. Even variations of the
Nazi emblems are outlawed; producing them, displaying them in public
or distributing them can lead to a jail sentence of up to three years.
That is why second-hand bookshops in Germany stick paper over Nazi-era
volumes in their display windows.

Some clothing cannot be banned. The far Right favours Lonsdale
sweatshirts made in Britain. If one artfully wears an open bomber
jacket over the shirt , only the letters N and S are visible ­
standing for National Socialism.
Another designer, Consdaple, is popular in east German schools where
the fa r Right is trying to consolidate its support among the young.
The trick here is to pull the zip down on a jacket so only the letters
NSDAP are visible â €”
the initials of the early Nazi party.

Dr Schnittcher scored his first success last August when he persuaded
a court to fine a neo-Nazi youth €300 for wearing a Thor Steinar
jumper. Ot her cases are pending.

Another court is meanwhile assessing a counterclaim for damages from
the manufacturers of Thor Steinar, the Media Tex company. Uwe Meusel,
Media Tex’s manager, said: “It’s not for us to look inside
people’s heads .”

Klagenfurt: An 86-year-old Austrian who displayed war relics at a
privately-run Nazi museum may face charges of spreading Nazi propaganda.
Police searching the museum found a functioning Second World War
machinegun and other war materials. (AP)