cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43863645

Nazi salutes such as “Heil Hitler” or “Sieg Heil” are illegal in Germany. Members of the AfD, which Germany’s counterintelligence service described in May as a demonstrably right-wing extremist party, have faced a number of scandals in the past over using Nazi salutes or slogans.

[Alternative for Germany (AfD) MP Matthias] Moosdorf’s case happened in June 2023 when, according to the public prosecutor’s office, he greeted his colleague in the Nazi manner by clicking his heels together and raising his right arm at the entrance to the locker room area of the lower house. The public prosecutor’s office has now charged him with using unconstitutional symbols.

The Bundestag has already stripped 60-year-old Moosdorf of his immunity from prosecution. [He] is described by critics as particularly pro-Russian.

Since the start of Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moosdorf has opposed weapons aid to Kyiv, claiming that opposing Russia means that Germany will end up like it did “in 1945”. The Soviet Union and the Western Allies defeated Nazi Germany that year.

Last year Moosdorf also became a target of criticism even within his own party after he accepted an honorary professorship at the Moscow Academy of Music [he is a Cellist]. Until June this year he held the post of the party’s foreign policy spokesperson.

Moosdorf’s predecessor in that position was Petr Bystroň, who is of Czech origin. Bystroň now faces suspicions of accepting bribes from the pro-Russian “Voice of Europe” news server.

Germany prohibits the distribution or public use of symbols of unconstitutional groups, in particular, flags, forms of greeting, insignia, slogans, and uniforms. Among other things, the ban applies to Nazi greetings, as well as to the farewell phrase “with German regards” (mit deutschem Gruß), which the Nazis also abused.