Law for the Protection of National Symbols

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Basic data
Title: Law for the Protection of National Symbols
Type: Imperial Law
Scope: German Empire , Austria (from 1938), the Sudetenland (from 1938) and Bohemia (from 1939)
Legal matter: Administrative law , regulatory law
Issued on: May 19, 1933 (RGBl. I p. 285)
Entry into force on: May 21, 1933
Expiry: by Art. I. Paragraph 1d of Act No. 1 of the Allied Control Council for Germany of September 20, 1945 (OJ p. 3)
Weblink: RGBl. 1933 I p. 285 as PDF (Austrian National Library)
Please note the note on the applicable legal version.

The law for the protection of national symbols (RGBl. I p. 285) was enacted by the Reich government on May 19, 1933 and was signed by Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor , Joseph Goebbels as Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, and Wilhelm Frick as Reich Minister of the Interior .

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Prohibitions

Section 1 of the law regulated: "It is forbidden to use the symbols of German history, the German state and the national uprising in Germany publicly in a way that is likely to violate the perception of the dignity of these symbols." related directly to objects in the form of such a symbol (in particular a swastika ) or such movable objects, in or on which such a symbol was located, in particular the placing of these objects on the market . In addition, Section 8 of the Act contained the possibility of issuing police ordinances for cases in which the violation of Section 1 “consists of singing and playing certain songs or other acts than placing objects on the market.” This authorization was subsequently retained Made multiple use, for example with the "Police Ordinance against the Abuse of the Badenweiler March " of May 17, 1939 (RGBl. I p. 921) and the "Police Ordinance for the Protection of National Symbols and Songs" of January 5, 1940 (RGBl. I P. 31).

Responsibilities and legal consequences

The "higher administrative authority" of the place of manufacture could possibly confiscate objects without compensation. The police authority was allowed to act at its own discretion and confiscate it even before such a decision was made. Compensation was also excluded if it was later legally decided that there was no violation of the law.

Anyone who intentionally or negligently brought goods into circulation that were subject to the prohibition could be punished with a fine of up to RM 150 or imprisonment.

background

After the seizure of power, various objects such as jewelry, boxes, thimbles, egg cups, clothes buttons, Christmas baubles, wine bottles, shoehorns, plates and cutlery with swastikas, leader images and various Nazi symbols were produced, exhibited and offered for sale. A law was intended to prevent the National Socialist state or the NSDAP from being “dragged through the mud” or made ridiculous.

Lists of the objected and prohibited items were published in the Reichsanzeiger and in the Reichsministerialblatt.

Repeal

The law was repealed in 1945 by the Control Council Act No. 1 concerning the repeal of Nazi law .

literature

Web links