Björn Höcke fined again for Nazi slogan

Björn Höcke guessed correctly: He will have to pay another fine because he used the forbidden slogan “Everything for Germany” in a speech. On the first day of the second trial, exactly one week earlier, he had predicted: “Unfortunately, I expect another guilty verdict.” The first verdict was wrong. He is innocent. This time the penalty is even higher: 130 daily rates of 130 euros each are due; the first verdict on May 14 was 100 daily rates. Both times the issue was “Everything for Germany.”

The public prosecutor’s office at the Halle an der Saale regional court had charged the 52-year-old AfD politician with allegedly chanting the banned SA slogan at a regulars’ table of his party with around 350 participants in Gera, Thuringia, last December. He spoke the first two words and, according to the prosecution, encouraged the audience to complete the slogan with gestures.

As the defendant, Höcke had the last word. He called the paragraph under which he was convicted a “trap” that anyone could fall into. Even a law-abiding citizen, even someone who tried with scientific honesty to find out what was punishable under this norm, would fail. The paragraph did not meet the requirements for clarity of a criminal law.

It doesn’t matter whether someone knew the password

The case concerns Section 86a of the Criminal Code and the use of symbols of an unconstitutional organization. The question of whether the slogan “Everything for Germany” is such a symbol was central to the three days of the trial.

The defense had made numerous requests to prove that it was a common slogan that could not be specifically attributed to the SA. To this end, they wanted to have books and historical documents read out, hear from experts and watch the Leni Riefenstahl film “Triumph of the Will” in the courtroom.

But this did not work for the court. On Monday morning, it rejected the last eight applications. There was no doubt that the SA was an unconstitutional organization, it had engraved the slogan on its daggers and thus made it its own. This made “Everything for Germany” a symbol, and it did not matter whether anyone knew this or not.

The prosecutor even wanted to revoke the eligibility

Höcke also acted intentionally, said presiding judge Jan Stengel. Not only did he know that charges had already been brought against him for the statement, but also that his immunity had been lifted. He did it anyway and did not react negatively when the crowd finished the statement. According to him, Höcke had only shouted the words “Everything for” – specifically to avoid prosecution. But an act can also be committed in whole or in part by others.

This time, public prosecutor Benedikt Bernzen took a tougher approach. He demanded eight months in prison and the loss of the ability to hold political office for two years. That would have cost Höcke his candidacy for the upcoming state elections. Bernzen also demanded a payment of 10,000 euros to a non-profit organization, such as the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial. Höcke had used the slogan again without cause, although he knew it was a criminal offense, and had also involved third parties, which should be seen as an aggravating factor.

Bernzen also accused the defendant of contempt for justice because Höcke had announced “purges” in the judiciary if he came to power. Höcke had already rejected this on Wednesday as “infamous”. He had merely announced that he would lift the prosecutor’s obligation to follow instructions and have trials like his investigated because he considered them to be politically motivated, and he repeated this in his “final words”.

Höcke also announced that he would go to the European Court of Justice if he did not win his case first. He has appealed against the first ruling to the Federal Court of Justice. He can also appeal against the current ruling.

“Pathological coming to terms with the past”

Höcke’s defender Ralf Hornemann had a Playmobil football player with the number 4 on his back – the very number 4 that had seemed to someone like an SS victory rune, which had caused a media stir and led to the national team’s new jerseys being scrapped. Hornemann wanted to use it to show what he saw as the absurd results of the “downright pathological coming to terms with the past”, which is why even someone whose birthday is on August 1st can no longer get a personalized license plate for their car. The number combination 18 is considered a code for Adolf Hitler.

Finally, Höcke had to endure a short lecture from the court because he had denounced a “political justice system.” He has been doing this for over thirty years in two criminal chambers and since then has also been examining old GDR verdicts for violations of the rule of law, said Judge Stengel. Someone made a joke about Walter Ulbricht and was sentenced to six months in prison for it, and the joke was nowhere to be found. Or an athlete who no longer wanted to compete for the GDR was then charged with criminal proceedings, with false witnesses and everything: “These are political proceedings.” In contrast, everything here is done in accordance with the rule of law.

The use of the slogan “Everything for Germany” has only been punished once in Germany. In 2006, the Higher Regional Court in Hamm sentenced a young neo-Nazi to six months in prison without parole for shouting the slogan. However, the man had also committed bodily harm by hitting a 16-year-old and had previously served a long-term arrest for incitement to hatred. The District Court, as the lower court, had classified the slogan as a symbol of a banned, unconstitutional organization.

Höcke is still facing a trial for incitement at the regional court in Mühlhausen, Thuringia. According to a court spokesman, no date has yet been set for this. The content of the trial concerns a post on Telegram in which Höcke describes Islam as a widespread disease and migration as an “everyday war of displacement” and accuses Muslims of considering their non-believing hosts as “life unworthy of life”.

Höcke is the AfD’s top candidate in Thuringia for the state elections on September 1st and is aiming for the office of Minister President. His regional association is classified by the state’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution as definitely right-wing extremist.