German court rules PETA Holocaust ad offensive
Animal rights campaign comparing animal slaughterhouses to Nazi death camps banned
Germany's highest court has ruled that a PETA ad campaign comparing animal slaughterhouses to the Holocaust is an offense against human dignity.
The posters, sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), bear photographs of concentration camp inmates, both alive and dead, along with pictures of plates piled with meat and animals ready for slaughter, accompanied by the slogan: "The Holocaust on you plate".
The ad (Photo: AP)
The constitutional court said the campaign would have made "the fate of the victims of the Holocaust appear banal and trivial" and that it was not protected under freedom of speech laws.
PETA said the campaign - which was previously launched in the United States - was intended to persuade people that the suffering of humans and animals was comparable and that animal products should therefore not be used or consumed.
Paul Spiegel, former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, filed the suit against the ad campaign along with several other Jewish organizations.
