3 ms·
Freedom of speech is not guaranteed in Germany. If it were, holocaust denial wouldn’t get people jailed.
by ummonk 6y ago
Freedom of speech is not guaranteed in Germany. If it were, holocaust denial wouldn’t get people jailed.
- s9w 6y agoWell it's one of the typical lawyer tricks. There is a paragraph in the constitution that explicitly grants you freedom of speech. There's also others that more or less say you get to jail for saying xyz. Unfortunately, law is not a program that has to compile. Then put selective enforcement on top and you have a very powerful weapon that gets great PR ("against hate").
- Ded7xSEoPKYNsDd 6y agoNo, there is no such paragraph. The German constitution guarantees freedom of opinion - not speech. So you can’t get prosecuted for disliking someone (and saying so) but you can for saying insulting or untrue (e.g. holocaust denial) things - those are not opinions.
- s9w 6y agoWell you can get convicted for saying you like a joke. That did happen.
- InterMilan 6y agoRemind me of a time I was in Germany. I was out with some friends (none of us was german) and one friend joked about hitler, he put a finger over his mustache and did the hitler salute to tell a joke. A guy who was standing next to us came running and said you will get jailed if the police who were close to us see you. So much for freedom to tell a joke. It seems this is the norm, so be careful when in Germany [1]. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40842853 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40842853