Authorities in the German state of Bavaria took an unprecedented step over the weekend, arresting a local man who published a Facebook post comparing the annihilation of Jews in Auschwitz to "persecution" of those who oppose the coronavirus vaccine.
The German newspaper Zidotische Zeitung reported that local police searched the home of the suspect, confiscating smartphones and computers, and is expected to submit an indictment against him for "incitement due to racist motives," which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The post included a photo of the famous, "Work Makes Free," gate to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Above that photo was another photo of syringes, over which was written in a similar font, "Vaccines make free."
"It's all been done before," he wrote in the post. "They are persecuting us as if we were the Jews."
This is the first time that authorities from any district in Bavaria have submitted an indictment for such actions, despite the fact that the comparison between "persecution" of those opposing vaccines and the annihilation of European Jewry during the Holocaust is something that happens in that country on a daily basis.
A senior General Prosecutor's Office official said: "This is an expression which is entirely an attempt to reduce the murderous and systematic persecution of the Jews during the Nazis' rule. We will not agree to allow the public space to be polluted with such statements."