Pulpit Law

The pulpit paragraph was from 1871 to 1953 ( West Germany) and 1989 ( East Germany) a provision of the German Criminal Code, which prohibits an opinion on political affairs with the threat of a prison sentence of up to two years, the clergy of all religions in the performance of their duties.

History

Empire

During the Kulturkampf, the national leadership of the Empire was going on under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck against the clergy, political events annotated in speeches. This so-called " pulpit abuse" was forbidden in a new § 130a, which was introduced on 10 December 1871 in the Criminal Code:

A supplement of February 26, 1876 extended the provision to the dissemination of writings from:

It came in the wake of this criminal provision also politically motivated sentences against Catholic clergy as against Mieczysław Halka Count Ledochowski -, the popular archbishop of Poznan. He was sentenced to the maximum penalty of two years.

Third Reich

In the Third Reich, Father Rupert Mayer was prosecuted for this paragraph, for example. Against him a sermon ban was imposed because of his dissident statements. In June 1939, Mayer told the Gestapo in writing:

1942, the Catholic priest Bernhard Lichtenberg was sentenced to two years in prison for abuse pulpit and offenses against the law of malice, because he had publicly prayed for the Jews and concentration camp prisoners:

Lichtenberg was then laid a violation of § 130a Penal Code and the Law on the insidiousness load.

Federal Republic of

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the paragraph was repealed by Article 2, No. 18 Third Criminal Law Amendment Act of 4 August 1953.