Young Nazi sympathisers found guilty

Maria Elena/Flikr

Young Nazi sympathisers found guilty

Three young people have been found guilty of engaging in Nazi activities after they drew Nazi tattoos and posted photos of them online.


A 20-year-old, who was found to have a German war flag used by the Nazis and portraits of Nazi Socialists in his room, was sentenced by a youth court in Salzburg to 19 months in prison, three months unconditional.

He and a 19-year-old accomplice were found guilty of using a pin and eyeliner to tattoo a hand-sized swastika onto someone's chest and then posting the photos online.

In addition to the tattooing, the 20-year-old was also accused of shouting Nazi slogans out of his window and singing the song 'Polaken-Tango' by the banned neo-Nazi rock group Landser in front of his brother and his brother's girlfriend.

He was arrested after his brother called the police, who found him in his room wrapped in the war flag and surrounded by photos of prominent Nazis.

"I now know this is nonsense"

He told the court that he regretted his actions, which took place in August 2011 when he was 15-years-old, and that he had now changed.

Pleading guilty, he said: "I now know that this is nonsense."

He was charged separately for his Facebook account, where he also posted pictures of himself making Nazi salutes, which he told judge Bettina Maxones-Kurkowski he had done to “show others that he belongs here”.

A 24-year-old, who was inspired by the 20-year-old, received a suspended seven year sentence for also tattooing himself with Nazi symbols, including engraving the number 18, the numerical symbol of Adolf Hitler's initials, onto his upper arm.

The 19-year-old received a conditional sentence of one month.