Anti-semitism and the judiciary in the Federal Republic of Germany

The judiciary in Germany is traditionally associated with conservative politics. In German law there exists an offence which makes the distribution of extremist rightwing propaganda concerning the Third Reich punishable by law, especially if it is anti-semitic. The offence includes denying the Holocaust and disseminating racist thought. This essay is mainly concerned with the situation in the late 1950s especially with a judicial decision that led to major changes in legal requirements