Because of a Hitler salute that may have been shown at the “Pentecost Congress” of the Coburg Convent (CC), a coalition of violent student associations, the police have launched an investigation. A spokeswoman for the police headquarters in Upper Franconia said on request that unknown persons were being investigated for “using signs of unconstitutional organizations”. The Coburg city councilor Matthias Schmidt had filed a criminal complaint. He claims to have observed how a person charged – a CC man in “full jerk”, i.e. liaison uniform – first showed a Hitler salute in the direction of counter-demonstrators during the controversial CC torchlight procession and shortly afterwards changed it to the so-called bold salute.
The city council was questioned by the police on Friday. In doing so, he named “four witnesses” who also saw the Hitler salute, he explained in an interview with the SZ. The incident is said to have happened on Whit Monday shortly after 10:30 p.m. in the center of Coburg. Schmidt says he immediately alerted a nearby riot police officer to the incident. He replied that he was busy monitoring counter-demonstrators, and that other colleagues had to keep an eye on criminal offenses in the torchlight procession.
The process is particularly explosive after only a few hours earlier, Coburg’s mayor Dominik Sauerteig (SPD) at the CC “Festkommers” had harshly criticized an incident in question at an earlier CC congress. The trivialization of the Nazi dictatorship had no place “in the first brown city in Germany” – Coburg – he told the approximately 3,000 participants. The Lord Mayor was referring to the year 2018, when a CC man shouted “Heil Hitler!” to another in the men’s toilet of the Coburg Hofbräu. should have countered. “Anyone who, as a good democrat, becomes aware that a person in Coburg or elsewhere is practicing the Hitler salute in whatever way, be it verbally or by gesture, must disclose this and not cover it up,” said the mayor – a very explicit one for such occasions Criticism.
CC spokesman Martin Vaupel considers the city council’s statements to be implausible. He had the opportunity to remember the colors of the suspect or the city sign assigned to him. Apparently neither of these things happened. Should the information still be correct, the CC would consider this to be “impossible”.
Schmidt, managing director of a family business, belongs to the middle-class group “Pro Coburg”, which emerged from the Free Voters. Because of critical preliminary reports about the CC Congress, he wanted to express his displeasure and took part in the counter-demonstration, he says. The Hitler salute could be seen for a few seconds, after which the man went out of sight. So he immediately contacted the police. He thinks it is unlikely that the CC man can be identified, but wants to leave no stone unturned.