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German Teens in Trouble Over Hitler Fan Club

Social media messages proclaiming ‘Sieg Heil’ intercepted by authorities

by
Stephanie Butnick
October 29, 2014
(Shutterstock)
(Shutterstock)

German students are definitely getting grounded after a Hitler fan club they started earned the attention of German authorities, the New York Post reports. The group of young teenagers not so wisely took to social media to publicly share their newfound Führer fandom (glorifying Nazism or Hitler is outlawed in Germany). They also reportedly harassed a Jewish classmate, putting a sticker for the notorious right-wing National Democratic Party on his jacket.

Prosecutors are investigating a class from Landaberg School near Leipzig regarding allegations that several of the 14- and 15-year-old students had become obsessed with neo-Nazi ideology, Central European News reports.



The investigation started after several messages on social media were intercepted by school officials who discovered students had been calling Adolf Hitler a “fantastic person” — beginning each comment with “Deutschland — SIeg Heil!”

The school’s headmaster is largely unconcerned about any potential implications of the teens’ troublemaking—far less worried than, say, the parent of the Jewish boy. “Breaking taboos is part of young adulthood,” headmaster Lutz Feudel is quoted as saying. “I don’t believe that they wanted to actively promote neo-Nazi ideology.”

Since they’re so young, the teens aren’t likely to be charged with anything. Instead, they (and their parents) are meeting with psychologists.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.