Germany Warnings Or Dangers Tips by Weissdorn Top 5 Page for this destination

Nazi Paraphernalia is ILLEGAL!

For all of you excentric collectors that delight in charishing the bygone "glorious" days of Adolf Hitler and his comrads, I have bad news for you. The sale, distribution and possession of anything which promotes or glorifies the NSDAP or the Nazi Regime is illegal in Germany.

Basically remade or reprinted Nazi stuff is illegal, and you cannot buy "cool" Nazi souvenirs in Germany. Importing this stuff from Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland or elsewhere (particularly the U.S., Canada and the U.K.) is not allowed either, and you will not only get it confiscated from the customs officials, you will get fined, and may even be criminally charged.

For this reason, you will never see live re-enactment soldiers at concentration camps, or re-actment WWII battles. You cannot buy fake Nazi medals, daggers, flags or uniforms at flea markets, and you cannot buy posters like the one pictured here at museums.

It is possible to find things like a copy of "Mein Kampf" or a photo of Adolf Hitler at a flea market, but it has to be an original. Military paraphernalia must be original and not copied. The Nazi flag is illegal.

It's not only very rude to repeat the Nazi salute in public in Germany, it's also illegal. Remember that the fine for calling a police official a dirty name is far cheaper than the silent Nazi salute, which can be heavily fined or criminally charged or both.

Under circumstances, if you are cited for smuggling Nazi paraphernalia, you could be banned from entering the Federal Republic of Germany for some time. If you feel this is censorship, please keep in mind, that the Germans have to keep a tight lid on right-wing radical politics in Germany in light of their recent history in the last century.

Of course, you are free to discuss your opinions and ask questions about the 3rd Reich, but remember that propagating that the whole concentration camp theme was just a "big lie" or anything along these lines is also punishible by law in Germany.

Phone: 110 (Nationwide)

Website: http://www.zoll-d.de

Don't drink and drive in Germany!

Don't drink and drive in Germany. The legal limit for alcohol is 0.3 ppm blood alcohol content. Although the official limit is 0.5, if you are stopped by the police because you are suspected of drinking and driving, or have had an accident, it just dropped to 0.3 ppm. Then you have just doubled your problems if you have had an accident, because if you have a positive blood test (taken by the police), you will have no insurance coverage on your car. Incidently, they are planning to change the laws again, making the legal drinking limit for safe driving for driver under the age of 25 0.000 ppm blood alcohol content! That's right that means for drivers under 25 absolutely NO ALCOHOL and driving!

Beware of Rumanian Begger Children

Germany is a very socialised country. The welfare system in this country provides residents with a moderate amount of comfort in the form of paid for housing, utilities, furniture, furnishing and clothing. On top of this, welfare recipients receive approximately 400 Euro in pocket money per month for food and other items, which is more than the annual income of people living in Afghanistan or other parts of the world.
Still, this doesn't stop Gypsies, who claim to be Rumanians from dropping off squads of women and children to persue organised begging trips. Each person is equipped with some note, mostly in German, sometimes in English, claiming that he or she is orphaned and needs a little change to get back home to Rumania.
They have a sort of pimp, who makes sure that the kids don't goof off and really work at begging, and collect their days' earnings.
So remember, that when you generously donate a few coins to poor homeless Rumanian orphans - who suposedly want to go home: They aren't homeless, they aren't Rumanian, they aren't poor, and they don't get to keep the money you give them. In fact you will only be financing a form of child prostitution.

Taking your Dogs to Germany

Because so many irresponsible owners have not trained their dogs, or have trained certain kinds of dogs to attack people, Germany has passed laws restricting the import of certain breeds of so-called dangerous dogs. Basically these are the following breeds of dogs:

Bull Terriers
Pitbull Terriers
Statfordshire Terriers
Mutts with at least 50% of one of the above breeds, and dogs that closely resemble these breeds.

It is illegal to import the dogs for sale or for breeding purposes in Germany. If you already own one of these dogs, you can bring it with you under the following conditions.

You must "declare" your dog in customs.

You must have certification proving you are the owner of the dog.

You may bring up to 3 dogs with you.

You must have certification that the dog was vaccinated at least 30 days but not less than 10 days against rabies before you enter Germany.

You must have a leash and an muzzle on the dog at all times while you are in public.

You may not let the dog run free in the woods (this is dangerous - a licensed hunter is allowed to shoot and kill your dog)

You may not sell your dog while in Germany.