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Gnome lampooning the Nazis may give the Nazi salute

22 October 2012
1 minute read

A garden gnome in the display window of an art gallery in Nuremberg which has been greeting passers-by with a raised right arm as was the custom during Nazi rule may continue to give the salute. The state prosecutor has halted an investigation into whether the sculptor and/or the gallery have violated the law, according to the internet pages of the weekly Der Spiegel.

Nazi symbols are banned in Germany. According to the state prosecutor in Nuremberg, even though the Nazi salute is one of the symbols of Hitler’s NSDAP, the saluting gnome “unambiguously represents resistance to that organization and its ideology.” The gallery had removed the saluting gnome from its display window in the meantime.

Artist Ottmar Hörl designed the golden gnome and first presented it at an exhibition against right-wing extremism in the Belgian city of Ghent. The gnome is said to have been a hit with members of the Jewish community there.

A photo of the gnome can be seen at http://www.nn-online.de/bild.asp?bild=515991&ar=0&man=3&kat=10

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