Nazi salute dolls, ‘Htler Schntzl,’ SS-themed liquors: How far right skirts Germany’s stringent hate speech laws

CNN — Tommy Frenck is the proud owner and proprietor of The Golden Lion, a traditional, half-timbered guesthouse surrounded by meadows in a small village in central Germany. “That’s the thing in Germany: if you are proud of your heritage, you are the bad guy… Every person who’s not politically correct is somehow a ‘Nazi.’” Tommy Frenck runs a guesthouse in rural Germany where he serves "Hitler schnitzels" and sells far-right merchandise. And with the AfD surging in Germany, the pub is far from alone in spreading its message to far-right supporters, despite Germany’s criminal code prohibiting the public use of “symbols of unconstitutional organizations” – that includes the swastika, the Celtic cross, the Nazi salute and other symbols associated with the Nazi Party. “We come here because this is what we think,” she told CNN, “This is how we want to live.” Politics must be ‘for the German people’ Frenck wants to stop immigration to Germany and ban Islam. Festivalgoers are seen at the music festival organized by Frenck in June 2018. picture alliance via Getty Images Following heavy criticism of their tactics at that event, police took a tougher approach at this year’s event – a “Day of Identity” concert in June featuring far-right heavy metal bands and guest speakers from the AfD.