So the German Ministry of Justice does not care fact-checking those unrelenting Nazi documentaries on TV.

Refreshing candidness from the Ministry of Heiko Maas. We had written an email to him in May 2016

Heiko Maas, about that unrelenting Nazi propaganda shit on your German TV channels. Based on compulsory fee, that is!

and now received a short reply, which is shown below.

German Ministry of Justice about Nazi
documentaries on TV

It basically states that all is hunky-dory. These NS documentaries three or more times a week are totally important even these days. Whether they stick to facts, really explain the reasons for the ascendency of Hitler, or latently glorify that era, we really don't care at the Ministry, because ... and now listen carefully:

The Ministry invokes in all seriousness Article 5 Basic Law:

Article 5
[Freedom of expression, arts and sciences]

(1) Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing and pictures, and to inform himself without hindrance from generally accessible sources. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting by means of broadcasts and films shall be guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.

(2) These rights shall find their limits in the provisions of general laws, in provisions for the protection of young persons, and in the right to personal honour.

(3) Arts and sciences, research and teaching shall be free. The freedom of teaching shall not release any person from allegiance to the constitution.

Subsection 2 limits this right "in the provisions of general laws" and here in particular § 86 STGB:

§ 86 StGB Dissemination of Means of Propaganda of Unconstitutional Organizations

(1) Whoever domestically disseminates or produces, stocks, imports or exports or makes publicly accessible through data storage media for dissemination domestically or abroad, means of propaganda:

1. of a party which has been declared to be unconstitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court or a party or organization, as to which it has been determined, no longer subject to appeal, that it is a substitute organization of such a party;

[…]

4. means of propaganda, the contents of which are intended to further the aims of a former National Socialist organization,

shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine. […]

(3) Subsection (1) shall not be applicable if the means of propaganda or the act serves to further civil enlightenment, to avert unconstitutional aims, to promote art or science, research or teaching, reporting about current historical events or similar purposes. […]

In addition § 86a STGB prohibits the display of Nazi symbols, unless they serve the purpose to educate or comment on current political affairs. (see Subsection 3)

The kicker in the letter comes here:

These rights are basically independent of the value of content and quality of the broadcast contribution and film. As a matter of principle the state does not control the content.

That is strange. Germany has a mandatory TV/Radio fee for every citizen, regardless of you owning a TV etc or not! IOW a propaganda fee. The Ministry of Justice not caring about historical blunders, falsifications and latent glorification of certain events during the NS era, is daft.

The German magazine SPIEGEL commented for example in 2003 about the

Hitler documentation: "The fucking biggest monster"

A 20 million expensive documentaries about Adolf Hitler, announced as a TV event of the year, proved to be a soap opera. Instead of explaining how the native Austrian became the biggest monster of world history, the US broadcaster CBS presented a shallow melodrama invented key scenes - Hitler for Dummies!

BTW, the US state Texas refused to broadcast the film. A scriptwriter quit, etc. etc.

But then again, The Heiko is busy outlawing sexist commercials. Heiko, you go!

German Ministry of Justice assessing depth of sexism in ad