Overview

• The Bavarian Administrative Court ruled that Michael R.’s private Nazi-sympathizing messages are shielded by confidentiality and free-speech protections.
• The court overturned the police’s bid to dismiss him and reduced his penalty from two pay grades to a single-stage demotion.
• His WhatsApp chats from 2014–2016 included “Heil Hitler” slogans and fantasies of gassing Holocaust survivor Charlotte Knobloch, triggering his 2020 suspension.
• Jewish groups, Holocaust survivors and officials—including Antisemitism Commissioner Felix Klein and Auschwitz Committee president Eva Umlauf—denounced the ruling as undermining democratic trust.
• Michael R. has resumed non-uniform internal duties under close supervisory review, highlighting tensions between private-speech rights and public-servant loyalty to Germany’s constitutional order.