A representative of the right-wing populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in the Brandenburg state parliament has been fined €11,600 for a campaign poster featuring a gesture that the court said looked like a Hitler salute. The regional court in Frankfurt (Oder) found Wilko Möller guilty of using symbols of unconstitutional organizations, though the graphic designer involved in the project was acquitted.
According to the indictment, Möller commissioned the poster for the 2024 state election campaign to promote “family-friendly policies.” Prosecutors stated that Möller provided specific instructions: the parents depicted were to be blonde and shown “visibly protecting” their children.
The resulting advertisement, which appeared in Frankfurt, depicted a blonde couple with their arms raised at a 45-degree angle, forming a roof-like shape over three children on a sofa. The public prosecutor’s office argued this created a “visual resemblance to the so-called Hitler salute,” a banned symbol under German law.
The court’s ruling aligned with the prosecution’s demand regarding Möller’s fine. However, the court broke with the prosecution concerning the graphic designer. While the state had sought a €2,800 fine for the designer for aiding the use of unconstitutional symbols, the court ruled that his actions did not constitute a criminal offense. The defense had argued for a full acquittal for both men.
Evidence suggested that Möller approved the design despite being aware of the strict legal prohibitions on such gestures. The investigation was triggered by the striking similarity to the Nazi salute, leading the Brandenburg state parliament to strip Möller of his parliamentary immunity to allow the trial to proceed.
The German Judges Association revealed that more than 1 million criminal proceedings are currently on hold because the justice system is completely overloaded. However, there is still time for a crazy trial against the AfD–with a questionable verdict over a harmless poster.
Möller has also dismissed the case as a “purely political matter.”
His supporters have also pointed to what they call selective enforcement, noting that the CDU also used a nearly identical motif in 2021–featuring a father raising his arm over children–which faced no legal scrutiny.
This case follows a string of high-profile rulings regarding visual gestures. In the summer of 2025, a German woman was fined €1,800 for sharing an unaltered photo of former Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. Although the image was a still frame from a public speech, the court ruled that the specific moment captured resembled a Nazi salute, highlighting the increasingly narrow legal tightrope for political imagery in Germany.
