German Escapes Charges Over 'Adolf' Furniture

By Fiona Shaikh

BERLIN (Reuters) - A furniture-shop owner who named chairs and sofas after Adolf Hitler and other Third Reich leaders was guilty of bad taste but not of breaching Germany's anti-Nazi laws, a state prosecutor said Monday.

Store owner Franz-Georg Schwetje outraged Jewish community leaders in Lower Saxony state by advertising special offers for sofa suites with names like "Adolf" and "Hermann" in a local newspaper.

Michael Fuerst, leader of Lower Saxony's Jewish community, urged state prosecutors in Hanover to charge Schwetje with violating strict laws against glorifying the Third Reich.

"The ads represent a clear glorification of the Third Reich and we have urged the state prosecutors to initiate legal proceedings against Schwetje," Fuerst told Reuters.

But state prosecutor Bernd Seemann ruled out pressing charges against Schwetje.

"Not everything that is in bad taste can be punished," Seemann said. "As long as you can call your child Adolf or Hermann, you can give a sofa the same names."

Schwetje ran advertisements for his sofa sale in a local newspaper in Hildesheim, 30 km (18 miles) south of the central city of Hanover, bearing the name "Three-piece sofa set Adolf" -- marked down to 2,998 marks ($1,600) from 5,998 marks.

He also listed a "Cabinet Rommel" and "Chest of drawers Paulus" after World War Two generals Erwin Rommel and Friedrich Paulus. The "Hermann" three-piece sofa set, which recalls Luftwaffe Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, was also marked down.

Schwertje insisted there was no Nazi connection.

"I simply passed along the names that my suppliers provided," he told Reuters. "I'm not a Nazi and I don't want to have anything to do with such people. Those right-wing extremists should be locked up."

Schwetje, 57, added that he could not remember writing the adverts because he takes pain-killers for bone cancer. He nevertheless said the names were harmless -- and that he had relatives in mind rather than Nazi leaders.

"If I'd given the furniture a name like Sachsenhausen, that would be a different matter," said Schwetje, referring to a notorious Nazi concentration camp. "But the sofa suite Hermann is named after my uncle -- Hermann Schwetje."

The Greens party in Lower Saxony called for a boycott of the furniture store. The local chambers of commerce were also considering legal sanctions.

"Not one of my customers has complained about the adverts," Schwetje said. "But the Jewish community said they were offended, so I am going to make a donation to the Jewish group. I'm not sure how much, but at least 1,000 marks ($454.8)."

Germany has been plagued by a surge in far-right crime since unity in 1990. The German government has responded by seeking to ban the far right National Democratic Party.