Volksverhetzung, in English "incitement of the masses", "instigation of the people", is a concept in German criminal law that refers to incitement to hatred against segments of the population and refers to calls for violent or arbitrary measures against them, including assaults against the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously maligning, or defaming segments of the population. It is often applied to, though not limited to, trials relating to Holocaust denial in Germany. The criminal code Chapter 7, Paragraph 130 of the Federal Republic of Germany defines when a person is guilty of Volksverhetzung.
Constituent elements
Incitement of the People is defined by § 130 Section 1 of the Criminal Code:
Section 1
On 21 January 2015, changes to the former text of § 130 Sections 2 and 5, with Section 6 becoming Section 7, took effect following European parliament amendments. At present these changes are not reflected in the as updated in the .
Substantiation
Although freedom of speech is mentioned by Article 5 of the Grundgesetz, said article basically protects any non-outlawed speech. Restrictions exist, e.g. against personal insults, use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations, or Volksverhetzung. It is a common misconception that Volksverhetzung includes any spreading of Nazism, racist, or other discriminatory ideas. For any hate speech to be punishable as Volksverhetzung, the law requires that said speech be "qualified for disturbing public peace" either by inciting "hatred against parts of the populace" or calling for "acts of violence or despotism against them", or by attacking "the human dignity of others by reviling, maliciously making contemptible or slandering parts of the populace".
Application to offences committed abroad
Offences, that are committed in accordance with § 130 of the Criminal Code abroad, whether by German nationals or foreigners, can be pursued as a domestic crime, when they so act, as if they had been committed within the country, affecting the public peace in Germany and violate the human dignity of German citizens. It is sufficient, for example, that criminal content on the Internet, for example in the form of a HTML page, can be accessed from Germany. Hence, for example, the jurisdiction of German courts can be applied for offences of sedition committed abroad. Such an example, was the conviction of the Holocaust denierErnst Zundel by the District Court of Mannheim in February 2007, who was convicted of inciting propaganda, that he had published from the US and Canada on the Internet.
History
Historically, the "Karlsbader Beschlüsse" of the German Confederation under Austria and led by Metternich included democratic ideals as well as agitation for one, unified German state as Volksverhetzung.
In Ireland, the corresponding law is the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act.
A similar law exists in Sweden as "hets mot folkgrupp", second section 16th chapter 8§ of the criminal code.
The Finnish criminal code also includes a similar law, which calls the crime "kiihottaminen kansanryhmää vastaan" in the Finnish version, "hets mot folkgrupp" in the Swedish version: 11th chapter, 8§.
The Russian Criminal Code such a law called the "incitement of ethnic hatred", which refers to actions aimed at inciting ethnic or racial hatred. Article 29 of the Constitution states that: Propaganda or campaigning inciting social, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity. The propaganda of social, racial, national, religious or linguistic superiority.
