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Swiss Court Rules Nazi Salute Not Always Illegal

No longer a punishable criminal offense if used as a personal statement

by
Stephanie Butnick
May 22, 2014
German nazi Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his army parade in Prague on March 15, 1939, the day of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Wehrmacht. (-/AFP/Getty Images)
German nazi Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his army parade in Prague on March 15, 1939, the day of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Wehrmacht. (-/AFP/Getty Images)

The Nazi salute, outlawed as a criminal offense in countries like Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic, remains a thorny legal issue in other European countries. In Switzerland, a 1995 anti-racism law criminalized the use of racist symbols in promoting discriminatory ideologies. But yesterday a Swiss court ruled that the symbol isn’t in fact a criminal offense if it’s used as a personal statement, the Associated Press reports.

The Federal Tribunal’s ruling, titled “Hitler salute in public not always punishable,” said the gesture is a crime only if someone is using it to try to spread racist ideology to others, not simply declaring one’s own conviction.

It seems to be a rather small technicality, considering the instantaneous associations most people presumably make upon seeing a Nazi salute being performed. While I’ll leave it to legal scholars to debate the various implications of the ruling, I do wonder what this means for other controversial symbols like the quenelle, the nebulous reverse Nazi salute newly popularized in France, which got a 28-year-old man a $4,130 fine from a French court last month.

I also wonder whether the New York City taxi driver suspended for wearing a Nazi armband while operating his cab would, under the terms of the new Swiss law, be considered to be making a solely personal statement.

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