by Ruben Gerczikow, July 14, 2023

During the night from August 11, 2022 to August 12, 2022, a Facebook advertisement from the Berlin office of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) showed up on Julian K.’s Facebook feed, and it led to a summons for the 35-year-old to appear before the Tiergarten District Court in Berlin on July 13, 2023.

AJC regularly posts advertisements on social media to increase its reach and attract new followers. In the summer of 2022, AJC published an image showing a Star of David with the text: "We stand against antisemitism and raise awareness about hatred of Jews.” This ad prompted Julian K. to write a comment – under the influence of alcohol, as he testified in court. 

According to his statement, K. could not remember the comment, and he asked why he was being charged for it. In the comment, K. used four neo-Nazi numeric codes, which are signs typically associated with the right-wing extremist scene. The numbers are 18 for "Adolf Hitler", 88 for "Heil Hitler", 14 for the “Fourteen Words” of the U.S. neo-Nazi David Eden Lane, and 28 for the initial letters of the neo-Nazi "Blood & Honor" network, which has been banned in Germany since 2000. In addition, the defendant, who at that time had no criminal record, entered the text of the "U-Bahn Song”.

The "U-Bahn Song" is particularly widespread among right-wing extremist soccer fans. The text expresses the wish to build a subway line from some given location to Auschwitz. K. wrote in this context "from Jerusalem to *********". The judge and the prosecution deemed it to be evident that the asterisks were meant to stand for the word "Auschwitz". The defendant repeatedly maintained that he had no memory of the advertisement or the comment. As evidence of his right-wing extremist views, the court showed, among other things, K.’s cover image on Facebook, in which the judge recognized modified SS runes. In response, Julian K. claimed that these were merely cut-off parts of a knight's cross. The cover image also bore the slogan "Don't complain, fight!", which is popular among right-wing extremists.

His YouTube account, "DefendEurope88", was deleted previously because of inflammatory statements. K. claimed that the number 88 was a reference to his year of birth. He did not elaborate on the name "Defend Europe''. This phrase is also very popular among European right-wing extremists. For example, the far-right "Identitarian Movement'' launched a mission on the Mediterranean Sea under this slogan, campaigning against migration to Europe.

The prosecution found no admission of guilt and no remorse on the part of the defendant. Finding that such comments destroy the societal environment and spark contempt for targeted groups, they called for a penalty of 100 daily fines of 15 euros each. After a short recess, the judge announced the verdict. Julian K. was sentenced for hate crime and defamation. Based on his personal situation, he was sentenced to 120 daily fines of 10 euros, and he will be considered to have a criminal record when the sentence becomes final. The court did not give credence to his attempts at explanation and called the comment itself "beneath contempt." AJC Berlin lawyer Christoph Partsch was pleased after the verdict: "One can hope that the clear verdict and the severe sentence will have a preventive effect on all malicious criminals who use the Internet for their hate speech."

AJC Berlin Director Dr. Remko Leemhuis, who testified at the trial, said, "We welcome the verdict, as it makes it clear that the Internet is not a lawless space. We welcome the clear words found by both the prosecutor and the judge, as both made it very clear that such a comment is not a trivial matter."

Especially on the Internet, antisemitic content is published without restraint time and again. Of the 848 antisemitic incidents documented by the "Research and Information Center on Antisemitism'' (RIAS) in Berlin in 2022, almost half occurred on the Internet. Therefore, today's ruling offers motivation not only to report criminal and antisemitic content on social media, but also to bring charges. However, this requires not only a digital civil society, but also committed courts and public prosecutors' offices that recognize and condemn antisemitism.

This article was first puplished at Belltower News.