Several anti-fascist people who shared a political cartoon online have found themselves in the crosshairs of prosecutors. One of the people was affected by a house search by the police. The artist himself reacted.
One Caricature by Guido Kühn shows the lettering “Deutsche*r” in Fraktur font. The explosive thing about it: the gender star
was replaced by a swastika. The cartoon has the subtitle: “Breakthrough in the language dispute: Surveys show the shape of the gender star that the majority of Germans would agree with.”
The artist refers to the hate speech against trans people. This is seen as an enemy of the fascist movement in Germany. Because of the shift to the right, more Germans would now accept a gendered spelling with a swastika instead of a gender star, according to the provocative thesis. Guido Kühn regularly draws cartoons on political topics and publishes them on his websiteWebsite
. Many of the cartoons criticize the increasing right-wing shift in Germany from an anti-fascist perspective.
The swastika, a recurring symbol for Kühn, is an unconstitutional symbol under German law and is therefore banned. According to the legal interpretation, artistic freedom protects the artist himself from criminal prosecution. However, distribution by other people will be prosecuted. The context doesn’t change that. Only swastikas that have been crossed out or thrown into the trash can, for example, are allowed to be shared.
Accused despite or because of antifascism?
One of the defendants who shared the picture on Facebook experienced a house search in early January 2024, even though there was an anti-fascist motive behind sharing the cartoon. The police confiscate the person’s device. The proceedings are ultimately discontinued upon payment of a fine of 300 euros.
A second victim who shared the post received a fine of 750 euros. “I was desperate, horrified and intimidated,” she says. After a letter in which she explained herself to the judge and a subsequent court hearing, she was offered the case to be dropped in exchange for a fine of 600 euros. She finds the process completely inappropriate since she is currently committed to fighting right-wing radicalism. That’s why it bothers her that she, of all people, is now guilty of spreading propaganda from unconstitutional organizations, she reportsnetzpolitik.org
. Guido Kühn himself
sees the proceedings as strategically motivated: the aim is “to suppress formally legitimate opinions and attitudes by putting defendants under considerable pressure, especially financially and humanly, through threats that sometimes reach the point of grotesqueness, house searches and similar measures.” In response to the repressive measures, he subsequently published a new one Caricature
with the following text caption: “If you want to post swastikas on the Internet without punishment, you should be a member of a police chat group.” The picture shows a police officer who looks like Adolf Hitler and is holding a cell phone that shows a swastika and a green tick next to it .” On his website he explains the intention: “Prosecutors are dragging people to court for sharing clearly anti-fascist illustrations that use the swastika. “However, the judiciary does not recognize any criminality in sharing swastikas as jokes among like-minded Nazis in police chat groups,” and refers to sources that confirm his thesis. Right-wing chats in police circles have repeatedly come to light, like one recently Chat group
by police officers in a station in Frankfurt am Main.
67 right-wing chat groups busted by the police in Hesse
Questionable court decisions and house searches are increasing
This is not the first time that repression through bans on National Socialist symbols has affected convinced anti-fascists who use such a symbol critically. In the past there have been house searches and critical posts about politicians on social media. A 64-year-old is said to have shared a picture on He is said to have previously shared a picture showing a man wearing an SS or SA uniform standing in front of a poster with the National Socialist, anti-Semitic slogan: “Germans don’t buy from Jews”. He ironically captioned the picture: “True Democrats! “We’ve done it all before!” commented. For allegedly warning against the rise of fascism, he was awarded Sedition
accused.
Another person is said to have called Hamburg’s Interior and Sports Senator Andy Grote a “dick” in 2021, which resulted in a house search. The senator hosted a party under the stricter conditions of the corona pandemic.
Fascist death threats are not criminally relevant – #Pimmelgate is
