A German court on Tuesday found a prominent far-right politician from the Alternative for Germany party guilty of using a banned Nazi slogan during a 2021 campaign speech.
A four-judge court fined politician Björn Höcke, head of the AfD in the eastern state of Thuringia, 13,000 euros, about $14,000.
The trial, which Höcke’s defense tried to present as a battle for freedom of political expression, was closely watched because the AfD hopes to make significant electoral gains in this year’s state elections and because of Höcke’s well-documented extremist views.
Mr. Höcke seemed to deflate when he heard the verdict.
During the trial, which began last month in the city of Halle, Höcke admitted to using the phrase “Everything for Germany,” but said he was unaware of its Nazi origins and compared it to the American slogan “America First.”
But the fact that Mr. Höcke had previously been a high school history teacher and that his party had repeatedly gotten into legal trouble for using exactly the same phrase undermined his argument, leading to the court’s ruling.
The use of Nazi phrases, gestures, symbols or uniforms is illegal in Germany and is punishable by up to three years in prison. The motto was used by Stormtroopers of the SA, the paramilitary wing of the Nazi party, who engraved it on their standard knives.
The prosecution argued that Mr Höcke’s use of the term was part of a strategy to introduce increasingly extreme language into the national discourse.
Johannes Hillje, who studies the communication of populist parties, says the phrase is especially suited to changing the acceptability of extremist language because, stripped of historical context, it seems perfectly harmless.
“It is important that the court confirms the legal limits in the face of Björn Höcke’s strategy of changing the discourse,” Hillje said after hearing the verdict.
The verdict comes months before an election for Thuringia’s legislature that could, for the first time since the end of the Nazi regime in 1945, put a far-right party in control of a state government. As party leader in that state, Höcke could become the equivalent of a state governor.
But despite its popularity among voters, the AfD is grappling with a series of setbacks that began with revelations in January that party officials had participated in a secret meeting with other far-right activists to discuss deportations of non-Germans. .
In another court decision on Monday, an administrative court in Münster, 200 miles to the west, dismissed a lawsuit brought by the AfD that sought to prohibit national intelligence services from classifying the party as “suspected extremist.” The classification gives the intelligence agency, known by its German acronym BfV, special surveillance powers under German law.
Last month, police arrested an aide to Maximilian Krah, the party’s leading candidate for the upcoming European Union parliamentary elections, on suspicion that he was working as a Chinese intelligence agent. While Krah has distanced himself from the aide, the investigation into the matter continues.
On Tuesday afternoon, the judge in the Höcke case, Jan Stengel, read the verdict after Höcke and his three defense lawyers delivered their closing statements. Mr. Höcke’s defense argued that the slogan was widely used and predated the Nazi era; He also argued that freedom of speech was more important than banning certain phrases.
Mr. Höcke delivered an unusually passionate rebuke to the prosecutor who had brought the case, saying he was hurt that the prosecution had not attempted to dismiss the case after hearing his explanation.
“Do we want to ban the German language because the Nazis also spoke German?” said Mr. Höcke. “How far will this go?”
At one point during his speech, Judge Stengel interrupted Höcke to remind him that he was not holding a political rally.
In delivering its verdict, the court made clear that it did not agree with Höcke’s view of freedom of expression, even if Judge Stengel said a prison sentence was disproportionate for someone who had no criminal record. The judge also said he believed Höcke had used the phrase on purpose.
“We sense that the mantle of free speech is being seriously abused,” Judge Stengel said.
Höcke faces two other criminal proceedings for speeches that are not yet scheduled. He has a week to appeal Tuesday’s verdict before it becomes binding.