Archive/File: documents/German/Weimar_Criminal_Code
Last-Modified: 1998/09/04

1. Incitement to Class Struggle (Paragraph 130, Criminal Code)

Whoever publicly incites different classes of the population to violent
actions against one another in a way that jeopardises the public peace
will be punished with a fine of 600 marks or with a prison term of up to
two years.

2. Religious Insult (Paragraph 166, Criminal Code):

Whoever blasphemes God in that lie causes annoyance in public by
expressions of abuse, or whoever publicly insults one of the Christian
churches or another existing religious society with rights of
corporation in the federal jurisdiction, its institutions, or customs;
likewise whoever commits insulting mischief in a church or in another
specific place that is specified for religious gatherings, will be
punished with a prison term of up to three years.

3. Insult (Paragraphs 185-187, 189, 190, 192-196, Criminal Code):

(186) Whoever asserts or spreads a fact in relation to another person
that serves to make the other contemptible or demeaned in the public
view will, if this fact is not demonstrably true, be punished with a
fine or with arrest or with prison up to one year, and, if this insult
is done publicly, or through the .spread of literature, pictures, or
representations, with a Vine or prison term of up to two years.

(187) Whoever against his better knowledge asserts or spread,.,; a fact
in relation to another person that makes him contemptible in the public
view or that serves to threaten his credit will be punished with prison
for a term of up to two years on account of defamatory insult, or if the
defamation is done publicly or through the spreading of literature,
pictures, or representations, with prison for not under one month. If
extenuating circumstances are present, the penalty can be reduced to one
day in prison or a fine.

(189) Whoever insults the memory of a deceased individual in that lie
asserts or spreads an untrue fact, which would have served to make the
deceased contemptible or demeaned in the public view in his lifetime,
will be punished with imprisonment of up to six months. If extenuating
circumstances are present, this can be reduced to a fine. Prosecution
occurs only upon request of the parents, the children, or the spouse of
the deceased.

(193) Rebukeful judgments of scientific, artistic, or occupational
performance, as well as utterances that are made for the execution or
defense of rights or for the protection of legitimate interests, as well
as reproaches and reprimands of superiors against their subordinates,
employment reports, or judgments on the part of a civil servant and
similar cases are only, punishable when the presence of an insult arises
from the form of the expression or from the circumstances under which it
occurred.

                               Work Cited
                                    
Levitt, Cyril. , "What Are the Lessons for the Modern Democracies" in
"Under the Shadow of Weimar: Democracy, Law, and Racial Incitement in
Six Countries," Louis Greenspan and Cyril Levitt, Eds. Westport, CT:
Praeger Publishers, 1993, pg. 16-17

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