The claim

The “Song of an Asylum Seeker” is intended to reflect the current situation in Germany in a satirical exaggeration.

Our conclusion

The insult has been known under the name “Asylum Fraudster Poem” since at least 1992. The distribution has already led to convictions for sedition in the past

Hate speech and misinformation have a long tradition. The Internet in general and the various social media channels in particular have only massively accelerated the spread. Sharepics and screenshots of postings can be shared with your own friends list, distributed in Facebook groups or posted as a status message with just a few clicks. Sometimes old things are dug up again and again, as in this case an old insulting poem in a new form:

An old insulting poem: Song of an Asylum Seeker
The corpus delicti

Here are some comments that you can find on the internet (sic!): ++ Thanks to the SPD, CDU and the Greens, unfortunately true ++ That's what it looks like. ++ True words ++ — sarcastic. ++ Unfortunately that's how it is here in Dummland. ++ That's exactly how it works here in Germany!!! ++ The song of the “Merkel skilled workers” ++ Germany is a land of milk and honey, just not for German citizens who have lived here for a long time. ++ Sad but the truth… ++

The insulting poem in German legal history

The “song” isn’t exactly new, as it has repeatedly appeared in German court files as a “shameful poem” over the last three decades. We were able to trace it back to 1992.

___STEADY_PAYWALL___

The infamous asylum fraudster poem illustrates this connection:
“Mr asylum fraudster, how are you?

Oh, all right, bring AIDS to Germans. Come straight from overseas - have drugs with you, as white as snow,
distribute a lot of it to German children in summer and winter.
Don't have to go to work, because luckily the German asshole works in the factory, ...
Even the dentist, the health insurance company pays in full every month.
... I love Germany – where else in the world is there so much money for asylum fraud?
If Germany goes bankrupt, I'll go home and say: Farewell you Nazi pig." (Leaflet from 1992 in the archive of the Center for Anti-Semitism Research at the TU Berlin)

From: Youth and Violence , Springer Fachmedien, 1995

In March 1994, Der Spiegel reported on a court hearing at the Hanover Regional Court in which the criminal offense of incitement to hatred (Section 130 of the Criminal Code) was to be decided. The central piece of evidence: a “citizen appeal” distributed by fax, including the insulting poem. The proximity to the arson attack in Solingen also played a role. The defendant would ultimately be sentenced to a fine of 90 daily rates of 25 marks for incitement to hatred.

Asylum seekers would be portrayed as a hateful population group at the lowest level. “Such people are denied the right to exist in our society. We saw this as a violation of human dignity.” In the Chamber's opinion, the "asylum fraudster" scheme endangers public peace. There is no direct call for violence. But “you don’t come up with the idea of ​​shooting your neighbor just because he has a different faith. However, anyone who feels supported by a wave of public opinion will do something like that anyway.” It cannot be said to be a satire. “What is supposed to make a person with a relatively intact inner psyche laugh here?” This is much more likely to be mood-mongering of the worst kind.

Der Spiegel quotes from the court ruling “Satire to Shake Up”.

Unfortunately, Section 130 is one of those legal texts “that can be interpreted either way”. The legal situation is complicated . Convictions for sedition are always overturned in the next instance. “Other courts didn’t even allow charges to be filed. That’s why some public prosecutors, when they got hold of one of those unspeakable anonymous smear papers with xenophobic slogans, stopped prosecuting the matter.”

Current legal assessment: Song of an asylum seeker

With the “song” we approached REspect! Reporting office against hate speech online , asking for an assessment of the legal situation:

Even if it may contradict moral sentiment, in our opinion such statements are not criminally relevant in Germany. Since 1994, there have been a number of proceedings regarding the section on incitement to hatred, Section 130 of the Criminal Code, so that individual questions from back then are clearer today. In fact, however, a balance must be made when examining each specific individual case in order not to undermine the freedom of expression guaranteed by fundamental rights.

In order to fulfill the offense according to Section 130 I No. 1 StGB - incitement to hatred, a suitable object of the crime would have to be present. […] must continue to incite hatred or call for violent or arbitrary measures. […]

The statements are undoubtedly extremely morally reprehensible and should not be spread in this form on social networks. However, no generalizations are initially made in the form that the claims would apply to all applicants, which must be to the benefit of the authors. Rather, it speaks from the supposed perspective of an asylum seeker.

At the same time, the statements are serious allegations, but the hateful comments are not specifically directed against this ethnic population group, but rather at the Germans (“German asshole”, “stupid German”, “German complete idiot”, “Nazi pig”) . The authors' goal with this technique is obvious. However, in order to be punishable according to Section 130 I No. 1 StGB, a sufficiently specific statement to this effect is required. In our opinion, however, the required level of spite and rawness is not achieved.

At the same time, Section 130 I No. 2 StGB requires a violation of human dignity. The case law places high demands on this. This is the case when the right to life is denied, people are equated with animals, or people are divided into classes.

In our opinion, these conditions are not met in the present case.

CONCLUSION

The “Asylum Seeker’s Song” is an old song, a cover version of an old insulting poem, so to speak, which has been known under the name “Asylum Fraudster Poem” since at least 1992. In the past there have been convictions for sedition for its distribution. Other verdicts in similar cases were sometimes overturned or not brought to court at all.

The “song,” a shortened version of the older insulting poem, no longer contains the particularly worrying lines about the spread of AIDS and drugs. Seen on its own, it is still extremely morally reprehensible and should not be spread in this form on social networks.

But a warning to amateur agitators: the distribution of this insulting poem alone may not be enough for a conviction for sedition. In the court case described above, however, the trial judge tried to take all the surrounding circumstances into account: a dangerously heated atmosphere in society (arson attacks in Solingen) or other evidence, such as skulls painted on the inflammatory “citizens' letter”. The same thing also happened in other, similar court cases, which then led to convictions according to Section 130 of the Criminal Code.

Sources:
Rainer Erb (1995): Action. About youth groups and right-wing violence . In: Youth and Violence , Springer Fachmedien.
Gisela Friedrichsen (1994): Satire to shake things up? ( Online version , print version ) In: Der Spiegel 12/1994.
Wolfgang Mitch (2018): The impossible situation of Section 130 StGB .
In: KriPoZ 4/2018 REspect!

Reporting office against online hate speech Court files and decisions:
http://www.luebeck-kunterbunt.de/Justizelend/Volksverhetzung2.htm (Bavarian OLG, 1993)
https://oberlandesgericht-braunschweig.niedersachsen.de/startseite/aktuelles/presseinformationen /conviction-because-of-incitement-confirmed-184116.html (OLG Braunschweig, 2020)
OLG Frankfurt NJW 1975, 143/144
OLG Frankfurt from August 15, 2000

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