The Federal Court has upheld the conviction of a 65-year-old man for incitement due to the publication of an image of the entrance to a concentration camp with the inscription “Vaccination makes you free”. The appeal of the defendant against a decision of the Cologne Regional Court was rejected on Tuesday by the Federal Court. No legal error was found in the decision after a factual review by the responsible Third Criminal Chamber.
The defendant had published an image in April 2020 on his public Facebook profile showing the entrance to a concentration camp with the inscription “Impfen macht frei” (Vaccination makes you free). This depiction was considered as trivializing the Nazi genocide.
The Regional Court sentenced the man to a fine of 80 daily fines of 50 euros. The image was deemed to be suitable to endanger public peace, as it equated the state’s COVID-19 protection measures with the crimes of the Holocaust.
With the decision of the Federal Court, the legal proceedings have been concluded (Decision of 4 February 2025 – 3 StR 468/24).