Thor Steinar

Thor Steinar is a German clothing brand registered as a trademark by Axel Kopelke in October 2002. The label's logo consisted of a combination of a *tiwaz rune and a *sowilo rune and has resulted in controversy. The company has since changed their logo.

Controversy

Since the inception of Thor Steinar, the company has used two logos. Much of the controversy regarding the clothing label revolves around their first logo. Thor Steinar reject the controversial interpretations of this logo,Thor Steinar's rejection of controversial interpretations of their logo: [http://www.thorsteinar.net/pages/altes-logo.php] ] which they have since changed to an uncontroversial second logo.

Censorship

Not only has the sale of clothing bearing the previous logo been outlawed, one woman was also fined 300 Euro for wearing a Thor Steinar sweater in public in Germany.Fact|needs a ref, add state|date=April 2008 The ruling created some controversy, because the logo, while popular among right-wing groups, also had a significant number of unpolitical buyers.Fact|date=April 2008 It is also remarkable that there is now a precedent of a German court as it were outlawing individual runic alphabet letters (as opposed to historical Nazi symbolism that contain runes, such as Schutzstaffel unit insignia, which have been unconstitutional in Germany since 1949 under the grounds of Denazification). Critics of the ruling have also argued that it unnecessarily creates sympathy with neo-Nazi groups among unpolitical buyers who feel treated unfairly.

Decensorship

The ruling was reversed by a higher court on 12 September, 2005.Fact|date=April 2008 During 2005, a total of 257 individual cases were filed based on the 2004 ruling, all of which became obsolete with the second ruling.Fact|date=April 2008

Recensorship

Early in 2006 a Berlin court sentenced a man for wearing the old Thor Steinar logo. The following passages are taken from two articles in the "Berliner Zeitung" daily of March 2, 2006 (translation by the author of this edit):

"A 24-year old man from Berlin's Marzahn district was given a suspended 7-month jail sentence and 150 hours of community work for wearing the former logo of the Thor Steiner clothes label, which is popular among right-wing extremists ... In the opinion of the court, the runes logo bore a strong similarity to symbols of unconstitutional organisations ...

"Ironically, less than four months earlier another judge of the same court acquitted a young man of exactly the same charge.

"'It's about recognisability of the logo' ... One judge feels it is unlikely a normal observer could mistake the old Thor Steinar logo for a Nazi symbol. However, the judge in this latest case found the old logo to be extremely similar to Nazi symbols and therefore unconstitutional.

"The Interior Ministry (of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) pointed out yesterday that buying this kind of clothes might indirectly contribute to financing right-wing extremists. According to leftist sources, a known right-wing extremist is said to have had a role in founding the company that distributes the label. (The company) Mediatex rejected accusations of this kind. 'Our company adheres to the democratic constitution,' said managing director Uwe Meusel."

Norway

Various designs by Thor Steinar have had Norwegian flags and Norwegian names, such as Trondheim, Nordfjord, Nordstrand or Bergen. The official stores selling the clothes are also named after the oldest Norwegian city, Tønsberg. Many politicians are trying to make the usage of national symbols illegal. [cite news | first=Nina | last=Berglund | title=Neo-nazi clothing 'abuses' Norway's flag | url=http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1556465.ece | work=Aftenposten | date=2006-12-04 | accessdate=2008-03-14 ] For this Norway started a lawsuit against the use of the Norwegian flag in February 2008. [cite news | first=Johannes | last=Radke | title=Norwegen klagt gegen Thor Steinar| url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/div/;art771,2476984 | work=Der Tagesspiegel | date=2008-02-15 | accessdate=2008-03-14 | language=german ] The legal complaint however failed and it is unlikely that a second attempt will be made. The Norwegian Embassy, the Norwegian Office for Foreign Affairs were informed by Mediatex - the company behind the Thor Steinar brand - on the 6th of December 2007 that future collections starting and including the Spring/Summer 2008 collection will no longer use the national symbol of Norway. The company issued a statement in response to the issue.Thor Steinar's official statement addressing the flag issue: [http://www.thorsteinar.net/pages/posts/thor-steinar-chef-doch-nicht-vor-gericht11.php] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.thorsteinar.de Official homepage]
* [http://www.thorsteinar.net/pages/altes-logo.php Thor Steinar page explaining their stance on the runic origin of the "TS" logo] (German language link)
* [http://www.hagalil.com/archiv/2004/10/steinar.htm Report on the first court ruling] (German language link)
* [http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/brandenburg/482796.html Report on the first court ruling] (German language link)