In custody

Farmer denies Nazi activities and counterfeit money deal

Various items from the Nazi era with SS runes, swastikas and Reich eagles were found in the Innviertel resident's property.

(Bild: AFP)

The public prosecutor's office in Ried accuses a well-known Innviertel man from the red-light district of collecting his brown devotional objects for a Nazi museum. He is also alleged to have attempted to put counterfeit banknotes into circulation. His lawyer in Wels contradicts the prosecution. 

The 59-year-old from Eggelsberg is certainly no stranger to the police and judiciary. Ten previous convictions have accumulated in his criminal record over the years. The last court conviction to date was on November 9, 2023 for preparing to deal narcotics. Cocaine was seized during a house search.

Nazi reactivation
After serving the prison sentence imposed for this, the man from Innviertel was immediately remanded in custody again in October 2024. The public prosecutor's office in Ried brought charges against the man for Nazi reactivation and possession of counterfeit money. The police had seized Nazi devotional objects (including daggers, pins with swastika and Reich eagle) on the property of the farmer and janitor, according to his own statement.

The 59-year-old, who is said to be close to the red-light milieu, is accused of collecting these items and storing them with the intention of displaying them for Nazi propaganda in a Nazi museum in Zwettl (Lower Austria) in the near future.

"Blossoms" in the vault
Two counterfeit notes (a 100 and a 50 euro bill) were also found in the 59-year-old's safe. According to the prosecution, he wanted to put them into circulation.

"It is unrealistic to assume that my client would have deliberately kept these banknotes in the safe and not in his wallet if he wanted to put them into circulation," contradicted his lawyer Lorenz Kirschner from Wels.

The Nazi devotional objects were also not accessible to the public. "At the time of the confiscation, their possession was not a criminal offense. There was also no public incitement to re-activation."