Nazi Gnomes Invade German Town

(NEWSER) - German prosecutors have decided a Seig-Heiling garden gnome doesn't violate the country's tough laws against Nazi imagery, the BBC reports. Artist Ottmar Hörl's creation, on display in a Nuremberg gallery, is intended to mock the Nazis rather than glorify them, officials decided. Prosecutors warned, however, that the stiuation has "certain abuse potential" and said nobody else should make Nazi gnomes. More»

Heinrich Boere killed 3 people as SS member in 1944

(NEWSER) - A 90-year-old former member of the Nazi SS is heading to prison for murder—67 years later. An ambulance picked up the wheelchair-bound Heinrich Boere at his nursing home in Germany and carried him to a prison hospital, the BBC reports. A medical expert ruled him fit to serve his term for the killing of three Dutch people in 1944. He has admitted to the killings, saying he was following orders and would otherwise have faced a concentration camp. An appeal of his sentence was rejected. More»

Secret numbers, letters express movement support: Expert

(NEWSER) - Swastikas may be outlawed in Germany, but that doesn't mean that neo-Nazi signs have disappeared. Coded letters, numbers, and other symbols communicate support of the extremist philosophy among those "in the know" in German society, reports Der Spiegel. The numbers 14 and 88, for example, which can be seen on placards waved at soccer games, indicate neo-Nazi support, according to a brochure on the complex code that's revealing a growing political movement. More»

Klaas Carel Faber can continue to live in freedom in Germany

(AP) - An 89-year-old German man considered one of the most prominent Nazi war crimes suspects alive won't be extradited to the Netherlands and can continue to live in freedom, according to German officials. Klaas Carel Faber was convicted in 1947 of complicity in 22 murders and for aiding the Netherlands' Nazi occupiers during World War II. He was handed a death sentence that was later commuted to life in prison, at least until he escaped in 1952, and fled to Germany where he has lived in freedom ever since. More»

Klaas Faber, 88, is now living in Germany

(NEWSER) - The Netherlands has issued a European arrest warrant for Klaas Carel Faber, a convicted Nazi war criminal who escaped from prison nearly 60 years ago, the Telegraph reports. Faber, 88, was part of an SS unit that committed summary executions of Dutch civilians for being either Jewish or "anti-German"—that is, sympathetic to the resistance. He was sentenced to death in 1947 by a Dutch court for the murder of 22 individuals; the sentence was commuted to life in prison. More»