An employee at a Municipal District Office in Berlin has been summarily dismissed after he was found reading an original copy of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf’’ in a break room during his shift.
The local state labour court on Monday ruled that the man’s dismissal was legally valid.
The man had sued the state of Berlin over his sacking because he had not been cautioned first.
The presiding judge found that the state authorities were not obliged to warn an employee after such a serious offence, and were within their rights to summarily dismiss him.
“The employee appears in uniform as a representative of the State of Berlin and is thus especially obliged to advocate for the principles of the free democratic constitution, as outlined in the German Basic Law, at all times,’’ said the judge.
By publicly displaying a swastika, which was emblazoned on the book’s cover and which is a symbol prohibited by Germany’s constitution, the man had waived his right to a prior warning before dismissal.
The local labour court ruled out an appeal to its federal counterpart.
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