A court in Germany sentenced a 60-year-old man from Flensburg to a six-month suspended prison term after he hung an antisemitic sign on a store he owns that read: “Jews are not allowed to enter this place!!!”
The court also ordered the defendant to pay 1,200 euros ($1,370) to the Ladelund concentration camp memorial. The court found that the man prominently displayed the notice in his secondhand store for about four hours on Sept. 17, 2025. The sign stated: “Jews are not allowed to enter this place!!!” The judge ruled that by displaying the sign, the man incited hatred against Jews living in Germany and violated their human dignity.
The judge sharply criticized the defendant, saying he was fully aware of the meaning and implications of his words.
“He knew what he was writing. The sign was deliberately intended to evoke memories of the Nazi boycott slogans directed against Jewish businesses,” the judge said. According to the judge, the case did not involve a spontaneous remark or an opinion protected under freedom of expression, but rather “incitement to hatred.”
The defendant admitted hanging the sign. Through his attorney, he expressed remorse for his actions and said he had not intended to offend the Jewish community. He also pledged to refrain from similar conduct in the future.
During police questioning, however, he said he had decided to post the sign because, in his view, the Jews he knew had not opposed the war in the Gaza Strip. He later said he realized he should have distinguished between Jews with differing views on the issue.
The case drew widespread attention beyond Germany and was covered by numerous media outlets around the world. According to the judge, authorities received numerous complaints from both Germany and other countries following the incident.
According to the ruling, the defendant removed the sign from the store window only after police explicitly ordered him to do so. He later hung it inside the store.