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Far-right AfD's Björn Höcke faces trial over Nazi slogan

September 13, 2023

Far-right Alternative for Germany politician Björn Höcke is to stand trial for allegedly using a banned Nazi slogan in a speech.

https://p.dw.com/p/4WHh2
Björn Höcke
Prosecutors charge that Höcke was aware of the origin of the phrase as a Nazi paramilitary sloganImage: imago images

A German regional court says the chairman of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the state of Thuringia, Björn Höcke, will face trial for his alleged use of a banned Nazi slogan.

The use of Nazi symbols or propaganda outside educational and historical contexts is banned in Germany.

What is the specific allegation?

It is alleged that Höcke knowingly used a motto of the SA, the paramilitary wing of the Nazi party, at a speech in May 2021.

The accusation is that he ended his speech with the phrase "Everything for Germany," knowing that this phrase was forbidden as one often used by the SA.

The speech took place at a party rally in front of 250 people in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

A spokesman for the Halle Regional Court said it had allowed the prosecution's charges to proceed.

However, the court refused a bid by the prosecution to elevate the case to a higher court, instead finding that it should be heard in a chamber where comparable past cases had been tried.

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Prosecutors can object to Wednesday's findings, but Höcke cannot; he will have to face a hearing.

Reputation for stoking outrage

State lawmakers last week voted to strip Höcke of his parliamentary immunity over separate charges of criminal incitement. Prosecutors allege that Höcke stirred hatred in a 2022 social media post linking Muslim immigrants to a violent incident in the southwestern city of Ludwigshafen. 

State parliament members in Germany generally have protection against prosecution. Criminal probes and charges against them can only progress with the approval of a parliamentary committee.

Höcke has in the past advocated revisionist views of Germany’s Nazi past. In 2018, he called the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a "monument of shame." He also said Germany needed to perform a "180-degree turn" when it comes to the way it remembers its past. 

rc/msh (dpa, epd)

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