Editing Swastika (section)

====Germany====
{{Further|Strafgesetzbuch section 86a{{!}}''Strafgesetzbuch'' section 86a}}

The German and Austrian postwar [[Strafgesetzbuch|criminal code]] makes the public showing of the swastika, the [[sig rune]], the [[Celtic cross]] (specifically [[Celtic cross#White supremacist symbolism|the variations used by white power activists]]), the {{lang|de|[[wolfsangel]]}}, the [[Odal SS-rune]] and the {{lang|de|[[Totenkopf]]}} skull illegal, except for certain enumerated exemptions. It is also censored from the reprints of 1930s railway timetables published by the {{lang|de|[[Reichsbahn]]}}. The swastikas on Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain temples are exempt, as religious symbols cannot be banned in Germany.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.dw.com/en/germany-wont-seek-eu-wide-ban-on-swastikas/a-2330716 |title = Germany Won't Seek EU-Wide Ban on Swastikas |date= 29 January 2007 |work = [[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref>

A controversy was stirred by the decision of several police departments to begin inquiries against anti-fascists.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spcm.org/Journal/article.php3?id_article=1869 |work=Le Journal Chrétien |title=Stuttgart Seeks to Ban Anti-Fascist Symbols |publisher=Spcm.org |access-date=2 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420011238/http://www.spcm.org/Journal/article.php3?id_article=1869 |archive-date=20 April 2008 }}</ref> In late 2005 police raided the offices of the [[punk rock]] label and mail order store "Nix Gut Records" and confiscated merchandise depicting crossed-out swastikas and fists smashing swastikas. In 2006 the {{lang|de|[[Stade]]}} police department started an inquiry against anti-fascist youths using a placard depicting a person dumping a swastika into a trashcan. The placard was displayed in opposition to the campaign of right-wing nationalist parties for local elections.<ref>{{in lang|de}} [http://www.tageblatt.de/main.cfm?DID=747071 Tageblatt] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113164205/http://www.tageblatt.de/main.cfm?DID=747071 |date=13 January 2009 }} 23 September 2006</ref>

On Friday, 17 March 2006, a member of the {{lang|de|[[Bundestag]]}}, [[Claudia Roth]] reported herself to the German police for displaying a crossed-out swastika in multiple demonstrations against [[neo-Nazis]], and subsequently got the Bundestag to suspend her immunity from prosecution. She intended to show the absurdity of charging anti-fascists with using fascist symbols: "We don't need prosecution of non-violent young people engaging against right-wing extremism." On 15 March 2007, the [[Federal Court of Justice of Germany]] ({{lang|de|Bundesgerichtshof}}) held that the crossed-out symbols were "clearly directed against a revival of national-socialist endeavours", thereby settling the dispute for the future.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://juris.bundesgerichtshof.de/cgi-bin/rechtsprechung/document.py?Gericht=bgh&Art=pm&Datum=2007&Sort=3&Seite=5&anz=200&pos=164&nr=39349&linked=urt&Blank=1&file=dokument.pdf |title=3 StR 486/06 |publisher=[[Federal Court of Justice of Germany]] |access-date=2 March 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://juris.bundesgerichtshof.de/cgi-bin/rechtsprechung/document.py?Gericht=bgh&Art=pm&Datum=2007&Sort=3&Seite=5&nr=39202&pos=164&anz=200 |title=Bundesgerichtshof press statement No. 36/2007 |publisher=[[Federal Court of Justice of Germany]] |date=15 March 2007 |access-date=2 March 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,471880,00.html |title=Anti-Nazi-Symbole sind nicht strafbar |trans-title=Anti-Nazi symbols are not forbidden |work=Der Spiegel |language=de |date=15 March 2007 |access-date=2 March 2010 }}</ref>

On 9 August 2018, Germany lifted the ban on the usage of swastikas and other Nazi symbols in video games. "Through the change in the interpretation of the law, games that critically look at current affairs can for the first time be given a USK age rating," USK managing director Elisabeth Secker told CTV. "This has long been the case for films and with regards to the freedom of the arts, this is now rightly also the case with computer and videogames."<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/09/germany-lifts-ban-nazi-symbols-video-games/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/09/germany-lifts-ban-nazi-symbols-video-games/ |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Germany Lifts Ban on Nazi Symbols in Video Games |author=<!--Staff writers; no by-line.--> |date=9 August 2018 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/germany-lifts-ban-on-swastikas-in-videogames/ |first=Andy |last=Chalk |title=Germany Lifts Ban on Swastikas in Videogames |date=9 August 2018 |work=[[PC Gamer]]}}</ref>