A GOLDEN garden gnome displayed in a German art gallery with its right hand raised in a Hitler salute has escaped prosecution as it was ruled not illegal.
A preliminary enquiry found the 40cm gnome to be ridiculing the Nazis rather than promoting a return of the Third Reich. The case had reached court level as Hitler salutes and Nazi symbols have been illegal in Germany since the end of World War II.
Ottmar Hoerl, creator of the gnome says while it is clear garden gnomes are silly and do silly things, in 1942 he would have been shot for his art.
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