Germany

The person posts on a public social-media account, under their own name, that the Holocaust did not happen and the gas chambers are a fabrication. The post contains no threat, no call to violence, and names no living individual.

Publicly denying the Holocaust in a way capable of disturbing the public peace is a crime under § 130(3) StGB, punishable by up to 5 years or a fine. Typical outcomes are fines or suspended sentences for first offenders; repeat deniers have been jailed. Police run nationwide 'action days' against online hate posts with house searches (13th action day, 25 Feb 2026, about 140 investigations in all 16 Länder).

Sources: § 130 StGB (Volksverhetzung) · Leipziger Internet Zeitung: nationwide action day against hate postings, Feb 2026

The person posts a public rant using slurs against an ethnic or religious group, saying the group is inferior and unwelcome in the country. No threat, no call to violence, no named individual.

Calling an ethnic or religious group inferior and unwelcome, in a way capable of disturbing the public peace, is incitement to hatred under § 130(1) StGB: 3 months to 5 years. Convictions are rising (Bavaria alone convicted 402 people in 2024, up 34%); first offenders usually get fines or suspended terms. Online cases are routinely pursued with house searches and device seizures on police 'action days'.

Sources: § 130 StGB (Volksverhetzung) · Bavarian government: Strafverfolgungsstatistik 2024 · Leipziger Internet Zeitung: action day against hate postings, Feb 2026

At a lawful, peaceful protest in a public square, the person burns a national flag they own and a copy of the dominant religion's scripture they own. No fire-safety rule is broken.

Burning the German flag at a protest can be 'Verunglimpfung' of the federal flag under § 90a(1) StGB: up to 3 years or a fine. Burning scripture is punishable under § 166 StGB (up to 3 years) only if it 'insults' a creed in a way capable of disturbing the public peace, which prosecutors rarely find for a burning by itself. In practice police stop the act and file a complaint. Most cases end in dismissal or a fine.

Sources: § 90a StGB · § 166 StGB

The person posts that the head of state is a criminal and a pedophile. They have no evidence and present it as their opinion of the leader.

Calling the Federal President a criminal and a pedophile is 'Verunglimpfung des Bundespräsidenten' under § 90 StGB: 3 months to 5 years (6 months to 5 years if it is defamation), prosecuted with the President's authorisation. For other politicians, § 188 StGB raises insult to up to 3 years and defamation to up to 5. Police search homes over such posts (the 2024 'Schwachkopf' search over a post about Habeck). Some convictions are later overturned: a 7-month suspended sentence over a meme of Faeser was quashed on appeal in January 2026.

Sources: § 90 StGB · § 188 StGB · LTO: LG Bamberg acquits Bendels over Faeser meme (Jan 2026)

The person prints and hands out a pamphlet praising an organisation the state has banned as terrorist or extremist, saying its cause is just. The pamphlet urges no specific act, and the person has no contact with the group.

Supporting the activity of an association banned by the state is a crime under § 20 VereinsG (up to 1 year or a fine). Since 2002, § 129a(5) StGB covers only recruiting members or supporters for a terrorist group, not sympathy, but recruiting carries 6 months to 5 years, and a pamphlet urging support can be charged that way. Pro-Hamas and pro-PKK expressions are prosecuted often: LG Berlin I has twice fined people for the slogan 'From the river to the sea' as a Hamas symbol (§ 86a StGB), while LG Mannheim held it was not punishable.

Sources: § 20 VereinsG · § 129a StGB · LTO: 'From the River to the Sea' conviction final, BGH will not decide

The person repeatedly refers to a named transgender public figure by their former pronouns and name in public posts, with no threats and no contact with the figure.

Under § 13(1) SBGG, nobody may disclose a person's former name or gender without consent after a legal change. § 14 SBGG makes doing so with intent to harm an administrative offence with a fine of up to €10,000. Civil courts grant injunctions against misgendering: LG Frankfurt barred Rome Medien from calling a trans activist a 'man', on pain of up to €250,000. Criminal insult (§ 185 StGB) has been used for abusive posts about trans politicians, but there is no reported conviction for misgendering alone.

Sources: § 13 SBGG · § 14 SBGG · Corrigenda: LG Frankfurt injunction over calling trans woman a man

A blogger writes that a named local businessman (a private figure) is a fraud. The claim is false, but the blogger honestly believed it after reading a news report.

Asserting a damaging fact about someone is criminal 'üble Nachrede' under § 186 StGB unless the fact is proven true: up to 1 year, or up to 2 years if done publicly or online. The defendant bears the risk that truth cannot be proven. Careful reliance on a press report can be a defence as 'safeguarding legitimate interests' (§ 193 StGB). In practice the businessman sends a lawyer's cease-and-desist and gets an injunction regardless of the blogger's good faith, with the blogger paying the fees. A criminal complaint by a private person is usually referred to private prosecution.

Sources: § 186 StGB · § 193 StGB

A journalist accurately reports, with evidence, that a sitting politician is having an extramarital affair. The politician sues for defamation and invasion of privacy.

German personality-rights law (§§ 823, 1004 BGB with Art. 2 GG) can make even a true report about private life unlawful unless there is a legitimate public interest. Truth alone is no defence for intimate or private matters. The BGH says politicians must accept more scrutiny than other celebrities, and it upheld a report on a state politician's new relationship (VI ZR 26/11). So the journalist will probably win, but only after weighing in litigation, with preliminary injunctions possible.

Sources: Rieck & Partner: BGH – politicians must tolerate more than other celebrities

A foreign billionaire sues a local critic in local courts over a harsh but clearly opinion-based review of their business conduct.

Value judgments get strong protection under Art. 5 GG, and the loser pays statutory fees. But Germany has no anti-SLAPP law in force: the cross-border-only bill (BT-Drs. 21/3942) was still pending after the EU deadline of 7 May 2026. Claimants can pick a claimant-friendly press chamber anywhere in Germany (flying jurisdiction) and seek ex parte injunctions, and can also file a criminal insult complaint (§ 185 StGB). Prosecutors usually refer such complaints to private prosecution.

Sources: Bundestag: hearing on government anti-SLAPP bill (Mar 2026) · No SLAPP Anlaufstelle: news (status of German law, Sept 2026)

The person wants to buy a common centrefire semi-automatic rifle (e.g. an AR-15 pattern rifle with a 30-round magazine) and keep it at home.

A semi-automatic rifle needs a weapons possession card (WBK) based on a recognised need. For sport shooters that means 12 months of active club shooting (monthly or 18 sessions) under § 14 WaffG, and self-defence does not count. Since 2020, magazines over 10 rounds for long guns are prohibited items. Only registered pre-2017 stocks and rare BKA exemptions are allowed, and possessing one is a crime with up to 3 years (§ 52(3) Nr. 1 WaffG), so the 30-round configuration is banned. Unlicensed possession of the rifle itself is also up to 3 years.

Sources: § 14 WaffG (sport shooters) · § 52 WaffG (penalties) · Landkreis Nienburg: prohibited magazines

The person wants to buy a 9mm handgun and keep it loaded at home for self-defence.

Handguns are licensed only for sport shooters, hunters and similar needs. Self-defence counts only if the person is 'substantially more endangered than the general public' (§ 19 WaffG), which ordinary residents cannot show. Owning a semi-automatic handgun without a licence is a crime with 6 months to 5 years (§ 52(1) Nr. 2b WaffG).

Sources: § 19 WaffG · § 52 WaffG

The person wants to carry a loaded handgun, concealed, in everyday public places.

Carrying a handgun in public needs a Waffenschein, issued only to people shown to be substantially more endangered than the general public (§ 19(2) WaffG). Ordinary citizens are in practice refused. Carrying a semi-automatic handgun without a permit is a crime with 6 months to 5 years (§ 52(1) Nr. 2b WaffG).

Sources: § 19 WaffG · § 52 WaffG

The person wants to carry pepper spray, or a folding knife with a 9 cm locking blade, in public for self-defence.

Pepper spray labelled for animal defence is not a 'weapon' under the WaffG and can be bought and carried by adults. Lower Saxony's guidance says it is allowed even on public transport under the 2024 knife and weapon ban. Sprays marketed for use against people are weapons. A 9 cm one-hand-opening locking knife may not be carried without a 'legitimate interest' (§ 42a WaffG), and self-defence does not count, so the knife option is worse: an administrative fine of up to €10,000.

Sources: § 42a WaffG · Lower Saxony interior ministry: FAQ on weapon and knife ban on public transport

The person wants to own a machine gun, or a destructive device such as an artillery piece or a grenade launcher with live rounds.

Machine guns and grenade launchers are war weapons. Holding one without a permit under the War Weapons Control Act is a crime with 1 to 5 years (§ 22a(1) Nr. 6 KrWaffKontrG). Fully automatic weapons are also banned under WaffG Annex 2. The only route is a discretionary BKA exemption (§ 40(4) WaffG), for example to expand a 'culturally significant collection', which ordinary citizens do not get.

Sources: § 22a KrWaffKontrG · § 40 WaffG

At night, a stranger armed with a knife breaks into the person's home. The person shoots and kills the intruder with a lawfully held gun.

Self-defence (§ 32 StGB) justifies whatever defence is 'necessary', with no proportionality test and no duty to yield. With firearms, courts require a stepped approach (threat, warning shot, non-lethal shot) where time allows. Any fatal shooting opens a homicide investigation that can last months. A knife-armed intruder at night is normally a clear case and is closed without charges.

Sources: § 32 StGB · Kanzlei.law: Notwehr § 32 StGB

On the street, a stranger attacks the person with fists. The person could safely walk away but instead punches back once, breaking the attacker's nose.

German law imposes no duty to retreat ('Das Recht braucht dem Unrecht nicht zu weichen'). One punch against a fist attacker is a necessary defence under § 32 StGB. Because police must open an investigation (Legalitätsprinzip), both parties typically get assault reports, and the defender's case is dropped.

Sources: § 32 StGB · Kanzlei.law: Notwehr § 32 StGB

The person wants to buy a course of amoxicillin for a sinus infection without seeing a doctor.

Amoxicillin is prescription-only (§ 48 AMG). A pharmacist who dispenses it without a prescription commits a crime: up to 1 year or a fine (§ 96 Nr. 13 AMG). The buyer is not punished. Getting it requires a doctor, in person or by telemedicine, who decides at their own discretion. Import by mail of prescription drugs also requires a prescription.

Sources: § 96 AMG · § 73 AMG

The person wants to take a drug approved by the EMA or FDA but not approved in their own country, for a non-terminal condition.

EMA-authorised drugs are authorised in Germany automatically. A drug lawfully sold abroad but not authorised in Germany can be imported by a pharmacy on an individual order with a doctor's prescription, if no comparable German product exists (§ 73(3) AMG). Travellers may bring in amounts for personal use, and personal-need quantities may be obtained from EU/EEA countries (§ 73(2) Nr. 6, 6a AMG).

Sources: § 73 AMG

A terminally ill patient wants a drug that has passed Phase 1 trials but is not approved anywhere, and the manufacturer is willing to supply it.

Compassionate use (§ 21(2) Nr. 6 AMG and the Arzneimittel-Härtefallverordnung) lets an unapproved drug be supplied free of charge to patients with a life-threatening or seriously debilitating disease. The drug must be in clinical trials or under an approval application, and cohort programmes need confirmed notification to BfArM/PEI. Individual named-patient use falls outside the AMHV.

Sources: BfArM: Compassionate Use programmes

The person wants to sell one of their kidneys to a willing recipient, with surgery by licensed surgeons.

Trading in organs is a crime under §§ 17-18 TPG: up to 5 years, and 1 to 5 years if done commercially. Courts may waive punishment for the donor and recipient (§ 18(4)). Living kidney donation is allowed only to relatives, spouses or persons with an obvious close personal bond, checked by a Land living-donation commission (§ 8 TPG). A paid stranger donation would therefore be blocked before surgery.

Sources: § 18 TPG · § 8 TPG

An adult declines a vaccine the state recommends or mandates for adults (score the strictest adult mandate in force in the last 5 years).

The strictest adult mandate in the last 5 years was the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for health and care staff (§ 20a IfSG, Mar-Dec 2022): fines of up to €2,500 and bans from entering the workplace. Enforcement was sparse. 2G rules in winter 2021/22 also excluded the unvaccinated from many venues. The measles mandate for staff born after 1970 in schools, daycare and health settings remains in force: work bans and fines of up to €2,500, never forced vaccination.

Sources: Der Paritätische: fines under § 20a IfSG · BMG: FAQ Masernschutzgesetz

A competent adult with a terminal illness and under 6 months to live asks their doctor for lethal medication to take themselves.

Since the BVerfG voided § 217 StGB in 2020, helping a competent person end their own life is lawful, with no statutory procedure. A new cross-party bill was still being drafted in 2026. Doctors provide drugs, typically through associations (DGHS reported about 900 assisted suicides in 2025). Prescribing the narcotic pentobarbital remains blocked by the BtMG. Each death is investigated, and doctors were convicted of manslaughter where the patient lacked capacity (BGH 5 StR 520/24, Aug 2025).

Sources: LTO: BGH 5 StR 520/24 on assisted suicide · PRO Medienmagazin: MPs aim for new assisted-suicide bill (Feb 2026)

A competent adult with unbearable but non-terminal suffering (e.g. advanced multiple sclerosis) asks their doctor for the same.

German law has no terminal-illness requirement. The 2020 BVerfG ruling covers any freely responsible decision, and the BGH (5 StR 520/24) sets only the limit that the decision must be free. An MS patient with capacity can lawfully receive help on the same terms as R1, with the same police investigation after death.

Sources: LTO: BGH 5 StR 520/24 on assisted suicide · hpd: Suizidhilfe – MPs seek majority bill (Jul 2025)

A layperson gets lethal medication for a competent friend who has clearly asked to die, and is present when the friend takes it. No payment.

Being present and helping a competent friend die is not a crime. But typical lethal drugs (e.g. pentobarbital) are controlled narcotics, and obtaining or handing them over is a crime under § 29 BtMG (up to 5 years). In BGH 5 StR 474/00 a helper who brought pentobarbital to an MS patient was convicted under § 29 but received only a warning with a suspended fine. The 'reckless causing of death' offence (§ 30 BtMG) was held not to apply.

Sources: BGH 5 StR 474/00 (hrr-strafrecht.de) · § 29 BtMG

The person is found with 5 grams of cannabis for personal use.

Since 1 April 2024, adults may possess up to 25 g of cannabis in public and 50 g at home (§ 3 KCanG). 5 g is legal. The CDU/SPD coalition chose to evaluate the law rather than repeal it, and the possession limits were unchanged in 2026.

Sources: § 3 KCanG · LTO: Cannabisgesetz rollback no longer a priority for Union

The person is found with one personal dose of psilocybin mushrooms or MDMA.

Psilocybin and MDMA are scheduled narcotics. Possession is a crime under § 29(1) Nr. 3 BtMG: up to 5 years or a fine. Prosecutors may drop small personal-use cases (§ 31a BtMG) and courts may waive punishment (§ 29(5)), but for these drugs dismissal often comes with a payment condition or a penalty order (fine). Every find opens a criminal file and is reported to the driving-licence authority.

Sources: § 29 BtMG · § 31a BtMG

The person sells 30 grams of cannabis to another adult.

Dealing in cannabis remains a crime under § 34(1) Nr. 4 KCanG: up to 3 years or a fine, and 3 months to 5 years in serious cases such as commercial dealing (§ 34(3)). There are no licensed shops. Non-profit cultivation clubs may only distribute to members. A first-time seller of 30 g typically gets a fine or a suspended sentence.

Sources: § 34 KCanG

Two adults agree to have sex for money, in private, with no third party involved.

Sex work between adults is legal. Sex workers must register (§ 3 ProstSchG) and attend mandatory health counselling. Working unregistered is an administrative offence with a fine of up to €1,000, and clients face fines of up to €50,000 only for breaking the condom requirement (§ 33 ProstSchG). A 2025 government evaluation led to an expert commission. No sex-purchase ban had been enacted as of October 2026.

Sources: § 33 ProstSchG · BMBFSFJ: evaluation of ProstSchG (Jun 2025)

Three consenting adults want to live together as a family, share property, and make binding arrangements for inheritance, medical decisions and parenting.

Three adults may live together freely. Bigamy (§ 172 StGB, up to 3 years) applies only to a second marriage or civil partnership. Wills, co-ownership contracts and healthcare powers of attorney work, subject to forced-heir shares. A child can have only one mother and one legal father (§§ 1591-1592 BGB), so third-parent status cannot be made binding.

Sources: § 172 StGB · § 1592 BGB

Parents want to homeschool their 10-year-old using their own curriculum.

Compulsory school attendance applies in every Land, and homeschooling is allowed only in narrow exceptions (e.g. travelling families, illness). Enforcement escalates from fines and coercive payments to police escorts, criminal penalties in some Länder, and partial removal of custody. The ECtHR upheld a removal of children from homeschooling parents in 2019 (Wunderlich v. Germany). Most homeschooling families emigrate or face repeated proceedings.

Sources: Wikipedia (de): Hausunterricht – Deutschland

The state wants to read the person's end-to-end encrypted messages, although they are suspected of no serious crime.

Police can read encrypted messages only by court-ordered source-TKÜ or device hacking (§ 100a and § 100b StPO, ordered by a judge under § 100e). Both require suspicion of a listed serious crime, so this person is not reachable that way. There is no key-disclosure law or backdoor mandate. Intelligence services can intercept with approval of the G10 Commission, a parliamentary body rather than a court.

Sources: § 100a StPO · § 15 G10 (G10 Commission)

The person wants a prepaid SIM card and an internet connection without giving their identity.

Prepaid SIM cards must be registered with name and date of birth, verified against an ID document before activation (§ 172 TKG). Fixed internet needs a contract in the person's name. Germany has no real-name requirement for online services.

Sources: § 172 TKG

The person wants to pay a dealer 15,000 USD (or the local equivalent) in cash for a used car.

Germany has no cash-payment limit yet (the EU AML Regulation's €10,000 cap applies from July 2027). Under the Money Laundering Act, a car is a 'high-value good' (§ 1(10) GwG), so a dealer taking €2,000 or more in cash must identify the buyer and keep records (§ 10(6a) GwG). The dealer files a report only on suspicion, not automatically.

Sources: § 10 GwG · § 1 GwG

The person wants to found a new religion, or an association, and hold weekly meetings without registering it.

Art. 9(1) GG gives everyone the right to form associations, and Art. 4 GG protects religious practice. Registration as an 'eingetragener Verein' is optional and needed only for legal personality. The executive can ban an association only if its aims or activities break criminal law or oppose the constitutional order (§ 3 VereinsG), which does not reach a peaceful new religion.

Sources: Art. 9 GG · § 3 VereinsG

The person organises a protest of 50 people in a public square with one day's notice to nobody. It is peaceful.

Outdoor assemblies must be notified 48 hours in advance. Spontaneous and urgent assemblies are exempt only if notice was impossible. About 30% of the population lives in the eight Länder still applying the federal VersammlG, where running an unnotified assembly is a crime (up to 1 year or a fine, § 26 Nr. 2), scored 2. The other ~70% live in Länder with their own laws (Bavaria, NRW, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Berlin, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein), which in general make it an administrative fine, scored 3. Weighted that gives about 2.7, rounded to 2.5. Police usually let a small peaceful assembly proceed and file a report on the organiser.

Sources: § 26 VersammlG · Wikipedia (de): Versammlungsgesetze (Deutschland)

The person publicly announces they have left the country's dominant religion, or Islam, and criticises it.

Leaving a religion has no legal consequence. Criticism is free unless it 'insults' a creed in a way capable of disturbing the public peace (§ 166 StGB, up to 3 years), a threshold ordinary criticism does not meet. Prominent ex-Muslim critics face threats, and police protect them.

Sources: § 166 StGB

The person wants to move abroad permanently, taking 1 million USD of savings and shares.

The exit tax (§ 6 AStG) applies only to holdings of at least 1% in a company after 7 of the last 12 years of residence, so a diversified $1m portfolio is not taxed on departure. Where it does apply, it can be paid in 7 interest-free instalments. Since 2026, § 3(2) WPflG applies in peacetime: men aged 17 and over need Bundeswehr approval to leave for more than 3 months. Approval must be granted while they are not due for call-up, and conscription is still suspended.

Sources: § 6 AStG · § 3 WPflG · § 2 WPflG

The person, who already holds another citizenship, wants to renounce this one.

A German with another nationality can renounce by written declaration, which needs approval by the nationality authority (§ 26 StAG). Renunciation is free of charge (§ 38(3) Nr. 5 StAG). Approval is withheld from civil servants, soldiers and conscripts unless they have lived abroad for 10 years or served in another state's military.

Sources: § 26 StAG · § 38 StAG

Police find 20,000 USD in cash in the person's car at a traffic stop. They charge no crime.

Police can seize cash on suspicion of money laundering (§ 261 StGB). Under § 76a(4) StGB the court should confiscate seized property 'stemming from an unlawful act' even when no one is prosecuted. Under § 437 StPO the court can infer criminal origin from a gross mismatch with the owner's legal income and from the circumstances of the find. In practice the owner must explain where the money came from while it stays seized.

Sources: § 76a StGB · § 437 StPO

The person is arrested for a non-violent offence carrying up to 2 years in prison. They have a home and a job.

An arrested suspect must see a judge by the end of the day after the arrest (Art. 104(3) GG), so at most about 48 hours. Pretrial detention needs a specific ground such as flight risk. A detention order can be suspended on conditions such as reporting or a 'reasonable' security (§ 116 StPO). For a non-violent offence with a home and a job, release without detention is normal.

Sources: Art. 104 GG · § 116 StPO

The person wants to build a 20 m² wooden shed on their own rural land.

Land building codes exempt small sheds from permits, but on rural land outside built-up areas (Außenbereich) the federal rule in § 35 BauGB allows non-farm structures only if they harm no public interest. Landscape protection and 'splinter settlement' objections usually block this. A shed without permission can get a demolition order and a fine. Länder differ only on the size of procedure-free buildings, not on § 35, so no weighting was needed.

Sources: § 35 BauGB