1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Mercedes-Benz employee under fire over Charlie Hebdo FB post

January 23, 2015

An employee at an auto factory in southern Germany has caused an outcry over a Facebook post. The worker allegedly tried to justify the recent terror attacks in Paris.

https://p.dw.com/p/1EPpw
Deutschland DaimlerChrysler Mercedes Stern
Image: AP

"#F-CharlieHebdo…everyone pays for their crimes! Some earlier, some later," those last words have come to haunt a young Mercedes-Benz factory worker in the southwestern German city of Rastatt - who is also a member of the staff council. He may now face dismissal from his job over a Facebook post - on his private account - sympathizing with the brothers who killed 12 people in the satirical magazine's Paris office on January 7.

Claudia Peter of the workers' union IG Metall, which represents many staff at the Rastatt factory, told regional public radio station Südwestrundfunk (SWR) that the basic principles of freedom of expression, tolerance, and respect are clearly written a federal law dictating the relationship between employers and representatives of employees. Peter also said that the rules of her union went even farther.

"Therefore it was clear for us that, when someone behaves in this way, it is grounds to call for his dismissal," Peter said. The case has now moved to an industrial tribunal, which may decide the fate of the Muslim employee.

The head of the staff council at the factory also spoke to SWR, telling them that the incident had "deeply affected" other people at the factory. He said that he believed the worker in question had truly "underestimated" the reactions his statements would provoke.

Charlie Hebdo's increased popularity in other parts of Germany was palpable as demand greatly outstripped supply of the magazine's so-called "survivors' issue" published after the Paris attacks. Just like the 5,000 copies that arrived in Germany on January 17 and sold out within minutes, Friday's delivery also disappeared quickly. One of the largest bookstores in Düsseldorf was only able to get its hands on 20 copies, despite 400 pre-orders. Another bookshop complained that they had not received any, despite an equally long list of pre-orders.

New debate about an old law

The incident at the Mercedes-Benz plant comes amid renewed debate in German parliament over what used to be Paragraph 129a in Germany's legal code. The 1976 law that made it illegal not only to take part in terrorist activities, but also to make any public statements sympathizing with terrorists. While very few people were convicted under the law, it was often used to launch investigations against suspects- often German leftists.

The law was repealed under Social Democrat (SPD) Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in 2002, but current Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) have recently argued that the law should be reinstated.

es/msh (dpa, KNA)