A woman from Coburg is facing a €3,500 fine after displaying a picture of German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach with his right arm raised, an image the Schweinfurt public prosecutor’s office claims was used to simulate a Hitler salute.
The incident comes from a snapshot taken during Lauterbach’s speech in Magdeburg on June 22, 2022, Apollo News reports. Recordings of the entire speech show Lauterbach using hand gestures to address different groups in the audience. Fact-checkers have since verified that Lauterbach did not perform a Hitler salute.
The woman had placed the still image alongside a report about a Querdenker speaker—part of a loosely organized group known for questioning mainstream narratives and policies related to COVID-19 pandemic—who had been fined €5,000 for allegedly giving the Hitler salute while waving. She displayed the poster in March 2024, aiming to compare the differing legal treatment of gestures that might resemble banned symbols depending on who was doing the gesturing.
Nevertheless, prosecutors argue that by publicly displaying the image, the woman deliberately intended for the gesture to be noticed by passersby and thus promoted a depiction of the Hitler salute. They maintain that, regardless of her intended comparison, the poster’s effect violated German law on banned symbols.
Over the past three years, more than 1,300 Germans have faced legal action for allegedly insulting public officials, sparking a national debate over free speech limits. Data shows Green ministers Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock filed the most complaints, often over memes or online posts deemed defamatory.
