How 'Nazi gnome' making Heil Hitler salute could get artist jailed

At just 14in, few would think a tiny gnome would offend anyone.

Unfortunately for this model, he has been made giving a stiff-armed Hitler salute - which breaks Germany's strict laws against the use of Nazi symbols.

The gnome is one of 700 made by German artist Ottmar Hoerl which have been displayed in Belgium and Italy.

But Hoerl has landed himself in hot water after a member of the public made a complaint to police about the works.

Now German prosecutors in Nuremberg have launched an investigation into whether the artist's gold-coloured gnome violates the law.

Giving the outlawed Hitler salute or using Nazi symbols is a crime in Germany punishable by up to three years in prison.

Prosecutor spokesman Wolfgang Traeg said police have asked the artist and gallery what the intention of the work was.

'It's not a crime if it can be proved that the artist was being critical of the Nazis,' he said.

But Hoerl, who also created the giant blue and yellow euro symbol that was erected in front of the European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt in 2001, said he couldn't believe the fuss the works have caused.

'I'd have been executed by the Nazis if I had portrayed the super race as gnomes in 1942,' said.

The golden gnome, with an impish grin, was originally one of 700 used in a 2008 exhibition called Dance With The Devil in the Belgium city of Ghent.

The German prosecution service is investigating whether the artwork breaks the country's strict laws against the use of Nazi symbols

The gnomes were also displayed without objection in Bolzano, Italy and Aschaffenburg, Germany.

'In Belgium everyone understood what was meant,' Hoerl said after inscribing the word poisoned on the gnome's base.

The gnomes are for sale £43 each - and about 400 of the 700 originals still in the collection are currently on display in Aschaffenburg.

Hoerl has a penchant for gnomes. In 2006 he produced 1,200 gnomes in the colours of Germany's national flag - black, red and gold - for an exhibition in Karlsruhe.

Gnomes originate in Germany from the late 19th century and feature in many German fairy tales, both as a force for good and evil.

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