German activist fined for comparing abortion-performing physicians to Nazis

Hamburg court rules against anti-abortion agitator Klaus Gunter Annen, fines him $7,000 after doctor files injunction against him

By Cnaan Liphshiz 27 August 2020, 2:14 pm

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Cnaan Liphshiz was a Jewish World reporter at The Times of Israel

A display at a German bookstore in Cologne reading 'Abortion will set you free,' likening abortion to the Holocaust. (Rheinisches antifaschistisches Bündnis gegen Antisemitismus/Carla Baum)

JTA — A court in Germany fined an anti-abortion activist for comparing physicians who perform the practice to Nazi doctors during the Holocaust.

The District Court of Hamburg ruled Monday on a petition for an injunction filed by Dr. Kristina Hanel of Giessen, a city in western Germany, against Klaus Gunter Annen, who runs a website titled www.babycaust.de.

“The plaintiff does not have to accept being compared to guards and doctors in the Nazi concentration camps and being called ‘degenerate,’” the ruling stated, according to the dpa news agency.

Annen was made to pay Hanel, a gynecologist, slightly over $7,000 as compensation.

Last year, Hanel was fined the same amount for advertising abortions, which is illegal in Germany. Hanel had said on her website that she performs the procedure and was sued by pro-life activists. The case generated considerable media attention in Germany.