Brazilian Judge Rules in Favor of Nazism and Swastika Symbols

In the city of Itajai, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, the First Criminal Court Judge Augusto Cesar Aguiar on Tuesday acquitted two Nazi sympathizers of charges of the crime of race prejudice.​​​​​​

RELATED:

Brazil: WhatsApp Admits Illegal Mass Messaging in 2018 Elections

“I have to consider the evidence of the process and the context of the facts. The defendants posted posters and, on their personal Facebook profile, they posted photos of the swastika and dictator Hitler; [however] they did not do so with the specific intention of spreading Nazism or incite it," the judge wrote in his sentence.

The Santa Catarina Prosecutor's Office established a complaint against Fabiano Schmitz and Kaleb Frutuoso for a crime of racial prejudice and Nazism.

Yesterday Judge Aguiar ruled that the actions of these two Brazilians did not represent an incitement to racial hatred or support for the Nazi.​​​​​​​

According to the prosecution, however, posters placed all over Itajai were signed by "The White Front," which is an extremist, supremacist, neo-nazi organization.​​​​​​​

Among the evidence ignored by the Santa Catarina judge, there was also a tattoo that honored the "Wiking Division," a Nazi military organization.

Aguiar considered that such evidence was not valid, for the tattoo drawing "was not the swastika cross."

Every fascist-minded citizen does not accept that Lula be released. Eduardo Bolsonaro, the President's son who is a federal deputy, twitted that he will not accept the Federal Supreme Court's decision to release Lula.

In Brazil, the influence of Nazism in the configuration of political ideologies and groups has a history that goes back to the 1920s, when Hitler's supporters launched campaigns for organizing "branches" of the Nazi Party abroad.

At that time, as a consequence of the post-WWI economic crisis, thousands of Germans migrated to South America where they kept strong ties with organizations operating in their homeland.

Between 1928 and 1938, when over 100,000 Germans lived in Brazil, German migrants founded the “Brazilian Section of the Nazi Party,” which became the largest Nazi militant cell outside Germany.

This organization was set up in Timbo city, in the state of Santa Catarina where European migrants created communities that did not seek to integrate themselves with local society, for they wanted to preserve their language and culture.