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The Gnome in the Garden of Good and Evil
Prosecutors in
Nuremberg are trying to
decide whether a golden garden gnome making a stiff right-armed
salute runs afoul of Germany's ban on Nazi symbols and gestures.
Evidently it all hinges on intent: Did the artist who created the
gnome, Ottmar Hoerl, mean to honor the Nazis or mock them? Hoerl
thinks the meaning is obvious "when one portrays the master
race as a garden gnome," adding, "In 1942 I would have been
murdered by the Nazis for this work." The authorities are not so
sure:
A spokesman for the Nuremberg public prosecutor's office, Wolfgang Traeg, said "we're checking to see if garden gnomes fall into the same clear category as posters that show the swastika crossed out".
He said the aim was to establish whether the artist and the gallery owner had intended the gnome as an endorsement of the Third Reich or as a rejection of Nazi ideology.
Mr Traeg referred to a previous case: a swastika which had been graffitied onto a wall. No prosecution was brought because the picture featured a fist smashing the Nazi symbol.
To play it safe, Hoerl should start kicking over all the Nazi gnomes.
[Thanks to Eric Jon Magnuson for the tip.]
|7.17.09 @ 12:13PM|#
I think they should torture the artist until he tells them what was in his heart of hearts when he conceived the work. If it turns out that he was thinking bad thoughts about Nazis, then they should stop torturing him and let him go.
|7.17.09 @ 12:17PM|#
Mac: (going through Pop-Pop's box) This is unbelievable!
Charlie: I know that! I know that! There are, like, so many medals
in there, dude. This guy was probably, like, King Nazi.
Tricky Prickears |7.17.09 @ 12:22PM|#
Mr Traeg referred to a previous case: a swastika which had
been graffitied onto a wall. No prosecution was brought because the
picture featured a fist smashing the Nazi symbol.
Destroy Fascism
They are pretty strict about that stuff in Germany. Also in Italy.
My Grandfather traveled to Italy to meet his distant relatives. His
business card had on it Il Duce d'Abbruzzi. The literal
translation is The Duke of Abruzzi. Nonetheless they were
not amused.
|7.17.09 @ 12:30PM|#
How do you amuse an Italian?
Drink a cappuccino in the morning. Or put sugar in your tomato
sauce. Well, it'll either amuse or enrage.
Brian Sorgatz|7.17.09 @ 12:32PM|#
Maybe the German government should poll the neo-Nazi skinhead community to find out whether they're flattered or insulted by the statue. In the absence of an equivalent to the First Amendment, it makes as much sense as any other approach.
|7.17.09 @ 12:34PM|#
Because their greasy little sausage fingers can't throw a
baseball for shit.
That's what Grammy Kurtz told me.
|7.17.09 @ 12:35PM|#
You know, whether than oppress everyone with these tortuous restrictions on speech, why don't they go do something to make up for their past? Like invade Iran or something?
Mike in PA|7.17.09 @ 12:36PM|#
In all seriousness, does anyone know if there's a time limit to
Germany's uber-ironic anti-nazi laws?
100 years maybe? I mean how long does freedom of speech get
punished in the name of justice?
Brian Sorgatz|7.17.09 @ 12:39PM|#
It's hard to anticipate the artist's intentions. Being German, he waits until the end of the sentence to say the verb.
Food Truther|7.17.09 @ 12:55PM|#
How do you amuse an Italian?
Tell him tomatoes come from America.
Tell him Pizza was invented in New York City.
(this one really gets them)
Shannon Love|7.17.09 @ 1:26PM|#
The nazi gnome kind of puts a new spin on the concept of "untermensch."
NeonCat|7.17.09 @ 1:32PM|#
I heard the Grays were Nazis, but the gnomes?
Someone should investigate the Keebler elves. After all, they have
unsupervised ovens and seem to be monoracial. Also, all male.
Maybe that's why they bake so much.
|7.17.09 @ 1:35PM|#
I'm still trying to figure out what it is, exactly, that modern day Germans -- or modern day US Democrats for that matter -- don't like about Nazism aside from the final solution thing.
|7.17.09 @ 1:50PM|#
Pro Libertate,
Hey, the Waffen SS took volunteers from virtually every country in
Europe (and some beyond), including
Walloons, Indians and Cossacks! So they had the diversity thing
covered too.
JB|7.17.09 @ 2:09PM|#
Stupid Germans. It's this fascist sentiment that gives rise to people like Hitler.
|7.17.09 @ 2:09PM|#
Enforcing restrictions on speech content is a pain for those who try. Of course we have our own variety of that judicial parlor game with the endless Christmas decorations/Establishment clause battles, where justices base their decisions on the relative religiousness of stars, trees, Santa Clauses, and reindeer.
ev|7.17.09 @ 2:50PM|#
I lived/studied in southern Germany for a while last year.
One of the first things my friends (who arrived first) said to me
was never to say Hitler or Nazi in public. I never saw the
ramifications personally, but it was apparently a very bad thing to
do. Like, strangers would approach you with scary German faces. You
don't want to be yelled at by a German. I love the language (except
for the bullshit verb-at-end thing) and find it beautiful in its
own way, but noises can be made very akin to have a sharpened whisk
shoved in one's throat.
Art-P.O.G.|7.17.09 @ 3:57PM|#
Hoerl must not have anticipated that the Nuremberg prosecutors office would be immune to irony.
Nate|7.17.09 @ 4:07PM|#
Wait, what the hell? Do they mean to say that in Germany, a
prosecutor looks at the case, decides whether or not the *spirit*
of the law has been violated and doesn't even bring charges if it
doesn't seem like the accused intended to do anything wrong?
That's fucking crazy.
|7.17.09 @ 4:08PM|#
Ya know, as an extended piece of street theater/performance art, I would say this is going extremely well.
|7.17.09 @ 4:09PM|#
'm still trying to figure out what it is, exactly, that modern day Germans -- or modern day US Democrats for that matter -- don't like about Nazism aside from the final solution thing.
Hitler attacked Stalin! Before the invasion of Russia, Germany and
Italy were the darlings of the elite Left. National Socialism was
only one tiny step away from International Socialism. The Nazis had
centralized government power directing individuals to act in common
for a greater good. But then Germany attacked Russia and suddenly
Nazism and Fascism went from being lovable leftist philosophies to
evil right wing reactionary forces.
Mad Max|7.17.09 @ 4:39PM|#
Could this possibly get any sillier? It will if I have anything
to say about it.
(Apologies to
the people of Oz)
We represent the Gnazi Gnomes, the Gnazi Gnomes, the Gnazi
Gnomes
And in the name of the Gnazi Gnomes,
We wish to welcome you to the Fatherland.
We represent the fascist Smurfs, the fascist Smurfs, the fascist
Smurfs
And in the name of the fascist Smurfs,
We pledge allegiance to the Fuhrer.
We pledge allegiance to the Fuhrer, Tra la la la la la la
He will regenerate Germany.
Regenerate Germany, regenerate Germany, regenerate Germany.
So don't get short with me.
No longer will we be overlooked
In our homeland!
Art-P.O.G.|7.17.09 @ 4:53PM|#
Ya know, as an extended piece of street theater/performance art, I would say this is going extremely well.
Good point. Way to be provocative, Hoerl!
jtuf|7.17.09 @ 6:09PM|#
Mike in PA | July 17, 2009, 12:36pm | #
In all seriousness, does anyone know if there's a time limit to Germany's uber-ironic anti-nazi laws?
100 years maybe? I mean how long does freedom of speech get punished in the name of justice?
Pro Libertate | July 17, 2009, 12:38pm | #
Until the French are satisfied.
Before the French revolution, the Church misused it's power. Three
centuries after the French revolution, France still has laws
against the public display of religion. Don't expect attitudes to
change anytime soon.
Rhywun|7.17.09 @ 7:02PM|#
My Nazi anecdote:
I lived in Germany for a year in the 80s. One day I waved goodbye
to a (German) friend and somehow it came out looking a little
Nazi-ish. He just Sieg Heil'ed me back and laughed. I was
mortified--he wasn't in the least.
|7.20.09 @ 12:40AM|#
The fact that the German government is reacting to a garden statue with such a paranoid reaction shows that in a sense, Hitler is still winning over them-this time, by fear of not being sufficently politically correct. By the way, Hitler was a practicing Christian, and believed in family and children as well- hey, Germany, have you been looking at those things as well?
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