Image Credit: Jan-Schneckenhaus / Getty 
A German woman has been fined €1,800 for sharing a photo of former Health Minister Karl Lauterbach with his arm raised—deemed by a court to resemble a Nazi salute. The municipal court of Schweinfurt ruled that the still image, taken during a public appearance in June 2022, constituted a “Hitlergruß” under Germany’s strict laws banning Nazi symbols, even though the woman merely reposted the photo without performing or endorsing the gesture herself.
The image of Lauterbach, taken during a speech in Magdeburg on June 22, 2022, was used on a protest poster she displayed in March 2024. The poster was part of a series titled Zitate der Schande (“Quotes of Shame”) and appeared alongside coverage of a Querdenken rally, a movement critical of COVID-19 restrictions. At that rally, one speaker had been fined €5,000 in an earlier court ruling for allegedly making a Nazi salute while waving in 2020; another had his case dropped in exchange for a fine. The woman wanted to highlight the inconsistency between both cases, using Lauterbach’s image as a visual provocation to spark public debate. But her attempt has cost her dearly.
Ob sie selbst gleich dran dachten, dass es komisch aussieht mit den Gesten? 😉#dd3110 pic.twitter.com/mtBAb6g1Kv
— Catman – @catman2024.bsky.social 📯 🪠 (@katzenklo_DE) October 31, 2020
What is particularly baffling is that the woman did not perform the gesture, imitate it, or promote it. She merely circulated an image of a politician caught at a specific moment. Nevertheless, the prosecution charged her with using symbols of unconstitutional organizations (Section 86a of the German Criminal Code), a provision usually reserved for cases of Nazi glorification or incitement to hatred. The court reduced the original fine from €3,500 to €1,800 but upheld the reasoning that the poster was designed to create the false impression of Nazi sympathy and provoke outrage.
According to statements the woman gave to Apollo News, her goal was to provoke a critical conversation about the unequal treatment public figures receive regarding ambiguous or controversial gestures: “I wanted to draw attention to Lauterbach’s behavior and start a dialogue with people.”
Neither the prosecution nor the judge believed her explanation. The verdict, not yet final, has sparked bewilderment on social media and among legal experts, who see in it a dangerous precedent for freedom of expression and a disproportionate criminalization of political criticism. Instead of punishing those who supposedly perform the banned salute, it is now those who merely document or satirize the gesture—when it comes from a public (and notably Socialist) figure—who are penalized.
Once again, the German judiciary appears more interested in policing dissent than tackling genuine hate crimes—punishing a citizen not for spreading extremist symbols, but for questioning the double standards of those in power. It’s a case that borders on the absurd.
