Things that are banned in Germany

This post is about the things that are banned in Germany. Germany is pretty liberal except for guns, drugs and its Nazi history. A few items that come to mind:

Things that are banned in Germany

Downloading

You can not download a movie or watch it online. You have to pay for it.  Watching most of the youtube videos is also nearly impossible. Mostly link gives you the warning that you don’t have the permission to watch it in that country or it is not safe.

Downloading or even viewing some Music, Movies that are freely accessible in other western countries(The GEMA and the Copyright lobby claims ownership to even work of foreign artists and charge users hefty sums for “violating” their copyright)

Drugs

Germany is fairly relaxed on drugs. It depends a bit on where in Germany you live, because it is not a federal issue but rather bound to the Bundesländer. In Northern Germany – Hamburg, you hardly get punishment unless you’re a dealer and that even in significant amounts. In Bavaria, things might look different, but Bavarians are a weird bunch.

Total Ban

• Heroin
• Amphetamine, MDMA, Cocaine

General ban requiring special authorization or recipe:

• Cannabis
• Ritalin

On the plus side, we have one of the better health care systems regarding addiction, regardless of legal or illegal drugs. In my experience, they’re treated equally. And even alcohol can cause you severe trouble if your misconduct.

Guns/ Weapons

As for guns: I am glad, guns are so restricted. Any sane country restricts weapons and only an insane society lets its citizens have weapons. Germany is probably one of the safest countries on the planet. If you look at the “Global Peace Index” all the leading countries are those fairly relaxed on drugs yet strict on weapons.

Total ban:

• Chemical weapons
• Biological weapons
• Nuclear weapons except for U.S. nuclear weapons stationed in Germany

General ban for private individuals with no exception:

• Full auto guns
• Semi-auto guns in .50 BMG and .338 Lapua Magnum
• Semi-auto guns based on military weapons (HK PSG 1)
• Lasers or lights for guns
• Night vision for guns

General ban requiring special authorization or recipe:

• Carrying guns (restricted to security personnel and endangered persons)
• Owning guns (sports shooters and hunters)
• Gun silencers (hunters)

To run out of fuel on the Autobahn

It is illegal to run out of fuel on the Autobahn. This is considered to be driver negligence. The truth is that you are not allowed to stop on Autobahns unless there is a reason for it you cannot change. So, of course, you are allowed to stop on the Autobahn if a tire runs flat or a traffic jam occurs. But you have to take care that you have enough fuel on board so that you do not end stranded at the Autobahn, requiring assistance. If you do not obey this rule, you may get a fine.

Publishing and Broadcasting Nazi material

Lots of Nazi material has been banned from public broadcast or publishing. The problem is: It is neither forbidden to read “Mein Kampf” nor to own it, but Bavaria held the copyright on it and did not sell licenses. So it was not possible to print and sell them in Germany. In 2016, 70 Years after the death of Adolf Hitler, the book became public domain. About 40 nazi propaganda movies are banned up to today from public display.

• Shouting ‘heil Hitler’ in a public place.
• Carrying a swastika logo in public

You can be banned from staying at a certain place

In fact, you can be banned from staying at a certain place if the police regard this as a threat to public security. For instance: You are a fan of a soccer team and you are strolling around with a large crowd of other fans in the city of the opposite team. There are some violent hooligans in your crowd and they are rioting and vandalize things. Then the police may temporarily ban the entire group from being there. So you have to leave the scene or you can get arrested and prosecuted.

Some Organisations and Signs

The administration can ban certain organisations and signs of these organisations. In 1993 the Kurdish extremist organisation PKK was rated as the terror organisation. The PKK was banned, and so was “advertising for the PKK”. So certain flags and symbols are not allowed to be shown during demonstrations. It is forbidden to support PKK actively, i.e. recruiting members or collecting money.

The same ban is put on other groups which either are terroristic or are into organized crime (some motorcycle gangs) or want to destroy our federal system. So ISIS/Daesh is banned, as well as the Turkish terror organisation Grey Wolves. During the time of the cold war, many symbols of the East German communist party and their organisation were banned in the West.

There are a few things that many of us may find unusual.

• it is illegal to wash your car on a Sunday and to do D.I.Y. or mow the grass.
• Bottles can only be thrown away and recycled at certain times.
• It is forbidden to have Urns in the home. Any remains must be disposed of in an appropriate places i.e. Cemetery

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, it is not legally banned but you should better not throw plastic waste into an organic waste box in your home. That is a socially inappropriate behaviour. Your roommates would hate you. And as far as I know, it is also illegal to take your ie plastic trash out on the paper waste day. There is a schedule for that. Otherwise, you may have to pay a penalty.

Allowed stuff:

• Travelling 400 km/h on the Autobahn in a Bugatti
• Insulting groups of people (e.g, writing ACAB on a wall, carrying a sticker saying “All soldiers are murderers”)
• Walking naked on the street as long as nobody feels insulted

Let me know by mentioning in the comment section if I missed something to mention

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