Nazi Anti-Flag Desecration Law
The Nazi Anti-Flag Desecration Law of 1932 banned flag desecration by "insulting or maliciously and with intent belittling" the German "Reich", its states, their constitution, colors, or flags, or the "Wehrmacht". The law was not a Nazi law; it was an amendment to the German Criminal Code, signed into law as an emergency decree in the Weimar Republic on 19 December 1932 by "Reich" president Paul von Hindenburg and the cabinet of Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher. A revised form of the law is still in effect today. Later legislation, on 12 March 1933, and  the "" of 15 September 1935, extended the protection to the Nazi flag. Paragraph introduced by Reichspräsident von Hindenburg on 19 December 1932. §134a StGB Case studies of §134a application. 21 December 1934: Defendant acquitted of desecrating SS flag. On 21 December 1934, a defendant accused of desecrating the SS flag was acquitted, because the insignia of a sub-organisation of the NSDAP were not considered protected under §134a StGB. 26 July 1935: New York demonstrators acquitted of tearing down NSDAP flag. On 26 July 1935 in New York a group of demonstrators boarded the "SS Bremen", tore the Nazi party  flag from the jackstaff and threw it into the Hudson River. The German ambassador sharply protested, but the protest was rejected, with the judgement that only a party symbol was harmed and the national flag was not affected. On 15 September 1935, in response to this incident, the "Reichsflaggengesetz" (Reichs flag law) (RGBl. I S. 1145) came into effect, declaring the Nazi flag to be the exclusive national flag of Germany and removing the status of the black-white-red tricolor flag of the German Empire as co-national flag. Laws specifying which flag is the German national flag. Black -red-white flag reintroduced and Nazi flag introduced on 12 March 1933. After the Nazi Party seized power on 30 January 1933, the black-red-gold flag was swiftly scrapped; a ruling on 12 March established two legal national flags: the reintroduced black-white-red imperial tricolour and the flag of the Nazi Party. Reichsflaggengesetz, 15 September 1935. The "" that declared the "Hakenkreuzfahne" as the only national flag was announced at the annual party rally in Nuremberg on 15 September 1935. Current (as of 1 January 1975) version of the Anti-Flag Desecration Law. §90a StGB Nazi Anti-Flag Desecration