Posted on 07/20/2026 6:41:22 PM PDT by Tench_Coxe
Dr Rainer Zitelmann doesn't even remember posting the meme on social media that nearly landed him in prison.
"When I opened the letter from police, I thought it was a misunderstanding," Dr Zitelmann, a German historian and author of about 30 books, told The Telegraph.
Berlin police told Dr Zitelmann he had been accused of violating a post-Second World War law that bans the display of Nazi symbols, slogans and imagery – and could now face three years in prison if found guilty.
The 69-year-old found out the offending social media post was a meme about Adolf Hitler. But it was one in which he criticised the Nazi dictator and compared his invasion of Czechoslovakia to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
(snip)
When JD Vance, the US vice-president, addressed the Munich Security Conference in 2025, most of the delegates were expecting a typical speech on the dual threats of Russia and Iran.
Instead, Mr Vance used the speech to fulminate against curbs on free speech across Europe, with emphasis on Britain and Germany.
(snip)
But the strangest thing of all is that he still has no idea who denounced him, because the person who lodged the criminal complaint did so under a fake name and address.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
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But the kicker is the last snip. That ahould have been the first clue right there. And if they could fund thw person, their punishment should be every bit as harshly as what Zitelmann was potentially subject to.
Going by their posting history, there is a faction on this forum who be a-ok with what is happening in Germany and England, much less other parts of Europe.
“Going by their posting history, there is a faction on this forum who be a-ok with what is happening in Germany and England, much less other parts of Europe.”
For sure - I’ve been told to shut up based on postings saying that there’s more to the Ukraine War than Putin waking up in a bad mood 4 years ago and thus deciding to invade a country for the hell of it.
I’ll bet Dr Rainer Zitelmann did Nazi that coming…
They didn’t post the offending meme!!!
What a bunch of PC pansies.
Free Republic is privately owned.
It is not a soap box set up in the town square.
You can be banned at the owner’s desire.
The same “free speech” you claim to have here
also applies to all of the other Freepers here.
You say high
I say low
I say yes
You say no
You say Hello
and I say goodbye.
The Germans are reverting to type again.
Among the reasons to vote Trump-Vance was to see the efforts at establishing a Federal 'Disinformation Governance Board' swept into the dustbin of history.
But Trump's efforts to install zionist speech codes at our universities is exactly the kind of speech control the first amendment demands we reject. It'll only backfire in the end.
“1 May 2021”
“Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones destroyed 114 Armenian tanks, i.e. more than three battalions, 43 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 141 artillery installation and MLRS, as well as a bunch of other military equipment of the Armenian army, and this is only in 24 days. The military conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia lasted 44 days”
“Even loitering ammunition purchased from Israel hit fewer armored vehicles than Turkish drones.”
“It is possible that this infographic is actually part of an information war, which was supposed to show Armenia that Azerbaijan is armed with “the most reliable attack drone” capable of destroying a bunch of enemy weapons without losing a single UAV.”
Moscow Times [10/27/2021]
The neighboring separatist-held Luhansk People’s Republic accused Kiev of using the Bayraktar in violation of ceasefire agreements that ban the deployment of foreign drones on the front line.
The Kremlin said Wednesday that Turkey’s supply of drones to Ukraine risks destabilizing the eastern Ukraine conflict
The Ukrainian army has been locked in a long-running conflict with separatist fighters in Donetsk and Luhansk since 2014 after Moscow annexed the peninsula of Crimea from Kiev. The conflict has claimed more than 13,000 lives.
Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Russia of sending troops and arms to support the separatists, which Moscow denies.
Warsaw Institute [27 October 2021]
“The Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 combat drone has been deployed at Donbas by the Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation for the first time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement. The drone targeted the positions of pro-Russian insurgents on October 26. The incident has been met with criticism from Moscow.”
“The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stated that the unmanned aerial vehicle was used to attack a battery of howitzers that fired Ukrainian positions in Hranitne on the southern part of the line of contact. One Ukrainian soldier was killed and the other was wounded. Despite calls for a ceasefire from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, “Russian-terrorist” forces did not stop the fire. The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces ordered the drone strike to “force the ceasefire.”
“The Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation said on October 26 that separatists made thirteen breaches to the ceasefire”
https://warsawinstitute.org/ukraine-uses-bayraktar-tb2-first-time-donbas/
New York Times [Nov. 15, 2021]
How a Dispute Over Groceries Led to Artillery Strikes in Ukraine
Deployed for the first time in combat by Ukraine and provided by a country that is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the drone hit a howitzer operated by the separatists. Things quickly escalated.
Across the border, Russia scrambled jets. The next day, Russian tanks mounted on rail cars rumbled toward the Ukrainian border.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/15/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-putin.html
BBC [26 November 2021]
they see the Kremlin sending a message that it’s ready to defend its “red lines” on Ukraine: above all, that it must not join Nato.
“I think for Putin it’s really important. He thinks the West has begun giving Ukraine’s elite hope about joining Nato,” political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya at R.Politik told the BBC.
“The training, the weapons and so on are like a red rag to a bull for Putin and he thinks if he doesn’t act today, then tomorrow there will be Nato bases in Ukraine. He needs to put a stop to that.”
Ukraine’s desire to join the security bloc is nothing new, nor is Russia’s insistence on vetoing that ambition in what it sees as its own “back yard”.
But Moscow has been rattled recently by the Ukrainian military using Turkish drones against Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine; the flight near Crimea of two nuclear-capable US bombers was an extra irritant.
“At a meeting between Putin and Biden, neither will give clear commitments but there may be some tacit understanding on how far the US is ready to go in increasing its military support to Ukraine,” Mr Kortunov argues. “That’s not impossible.”
“Whilst Putin has a flicker of hope that he can do a deal with Biden, he won’t take any rash steps. But if he thinks it’s all doomed, he could do the worst things we can imagine,” Tatiana Stanovaya warns.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59415885
Guardian [December 16, 2021]
“With tensions escalating along the border with Russia, Luke Harding visits troops in Ukraine’s Donbas region to gauge the mood ahead of a possible invasion. The war here has continued since 2014, when pro-Russian separatists seized Ukrainian cities.”
There’s a video I didn’t watch:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2021/dec/16/on-the-ukraine-frontline-only-the-dead-arent-afraid-video
I’ve been told to shut up based on postings saying that there’s more to the Ukraine War than Putin waking up in a bad mood 4 years ago and thus deciding to invade a country for the hell of it.
It may not be polite, but it is free speech. They are not credibly threatening to put you in prison or to fine you.
I do not find “shut up” to be persuasive, but I have found other arguments which disagree with you to be persuasive.
I will never trust Germans.
“Trump’s efforts to install zionist speech codes at our universities is exactly the kind of speech control the first amendment demands we reject.”
I believe there is a federal law that prohibits making any protected group uncomfortable at a federally funded educational establishment on penalty of loss of federal funding.
If a Freeper located in Germany posts that a German politician is “fat” the German prosecutors will press charges against them.
That won’t happen to you in America. Yet.
That is the distinction to understand.
That’s precisely the problem.
You, and other censorious twats, ‘believe’ there is a federal law that doesn’t exist that enforces provisions that were they to exist would violate the protections against the government that we have enshrined in the first amendment to the supreme law of the land.
You and no one is else is entitled to federal protection from being ‘uncomfortable’ at the expense of the freedom of speech of others.
Not all truth is ‘comfortable’.
Trump’s efforts are tied to Federal funding. If the Universities do not like it, they can turn down the federal funding.
“You and no one is else is entitled to federal protection from being ‘uncomfortable’ at the expense of the freedom of speech of others.”
Aryan University and its students may say what they want, but don’t expect federal educational funds if Black or Jewish students are targeted to be intimidated, threatened or made uncomfortable.
“It is as much free speech for a person to tell you to “shut up” as it is for you to say what they disagreed with.”
Someone posting “Shut Up” tells me that the person would BAN ME if he had the power. Sorry, but that’s how I see it - no different than Germany or UK (where I suspect at least of them is from, by the way).
“Free Republic is privately owned.
It is not a soap box set up in the town square.
You can be banned at the owner’s desire.”
I never complained about the owner...just other clowns here.
“each year we are involved in numerous investigations and cases addressing discrimination and harassment on the basis of race and national origin. For examples, view the cases list.”
“The Section’s work includes addressing discrimination and harassment on the basis of religion, and spans all religious affiliations. For examples, view the cases list.”
https://www.justice.gov/crt/types-educational-opportunities-discrimination
I’ve had a few things to say about Freddie the Fuhrer. I imagine I probably have an arrest warrant waiting for me if I visit the EU, and Germany in particular. At the very least I expect I would be denied entry into the country, not that I ever plan to visit again.
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