A German website is under investigation for inciting hatred and other crimes after allegedly selling a wide variety of Nazi-branded products by mail order.
According to Deutsche Welle, German police have identified a suspect they believe ran the site, which among other items sold peanuts packaged like a tin of zyklon B—the infamous poison used to kill prisoners in the Nazi gas chambers.
Other products included busts of senior Nazi figures, SS bed sheets, swastika-covered balloons and various renamed alcoholic brands, such as "Heil Hitler" instead of Heineken and "Reichs Jägermeister"—a reference to the Reichsjägermeister official title once held by senior Nazi and Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring.
The prices for each product all ended in 88 cents, according to tabloid newspaper Bild. In neo-Nazi circles, the number 88 stands for "Heil Hitler," H being the eighth letter of the alphabet.
Prosecutors in Neuruppin, about 40 miles north of Berlin, are investigating a man in connection to the website. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison. According to public broadcaster RBB, the suspect already faces charges for separate neo-Nazi crimes.
The man is believed to be based in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, on the southern tip of Spain. Police tracked him down through the postal service providers used to deliver the Nazi-themed goods and the bank accounts to which customers sent money. The accounts were based in the Baltic states. Attorney General Jürgen Schiermeyer told Bild the man sent the Nazi products through Spain to be distributed by three German postal services.
The newspaper also alleged that the owner of the website was related to a politician belonging to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party—the third largest in the German parliament. Bild named the man as Udo Weiß, 41, brother of 43-year-old Jan-Ulrich Weiß, who represents the AfD in Brandenburg's state parliament. The same allegations were made by the B.Z. paper, which is published by the same company as Bild.
The Berliner Morgenpost said the Jägermeister company was taking legal action over one of the alcohol products listed for sale on the site. The spirit maker has alleged trademark infringement, as the owner of the website apparently used a modified version of the company's famous logo with an added swastika.
After the devastation wrought on the country by the Nazi government in the 1930s, West Germany passed strict laws prohibiting incitement to hatred and use of Nazi symbols or gestures. This legislation was carried forward and recodified by the reunified country after 1990.
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