You'd Better Watch That You Don't Insult Sensitive Germans

BERLIN - In Germany, it might be a good idea to consult your lawyer before you squabble with a neighbor about a parking space.

Rocco Klotsche certainly will the next time.

The 27-year-old communications student was fined $120 for losing his temper during an argument in the parking lot behind his apartment house. What is remarkable about the case is that no threats were made, no weapons were drawn; nothing weightier than words flew across the parking lot.

Nonetheless, the neighbor was able to sue - and win - on the ground that Klotsche had "insulted his honor" by calling him an "arschloch" in the course of an argument.

Such are the strictures of a widely used German law that allows you to be sued, even criminally prosecuted, for what Americans might consider minor breaches of etiquette. It is the insult law.

"Insult is the illegal attack on the honor of another person through intentional expression of disrespect," the law reads.

It is not only the curse words that are prohibited.

Insulting gestures are also verboten - showing the middle finger or in some cases even sticking out the tongue can get you in trouble.

Case histories are replete with creative insults that range from "dumme kuh" (stupid cow), "kartoffelbauch" (potato belly), "Nazischwein" (Nazi pig), "alte hexe" (old witch) and so on.

The law dates back to the late 19th century and is very much woven into the fabric of German society. Although many younger

Germans consider it hopelessly stodgy and anti-libertarian, its use is thriving.

In Berlin alone, 2,262 people were convicted of insult violation in 1992, the most recent year for which complete court records are kept.

"It is really a stupid law, but it is good for business. It keeps the lawyers and judges busy," said Andreas Just, a Berlin lawyer who frequently represents defendants in insult cases. "People seem to get more and more sensitive every year, so they exercise their right to sue."

Typical and trivial is the incident for which Rocco Klotsche found himself hauled into court.

It started one evening when Klotsche heard a commotion in the parking lot outside his apartment house. He ran downstairs only to find three men trying to move his car - a 1979 green Volkswagen.

Klotsche says that one of the men, using the impolite "du," yelled at him to move his "wreck of a car" away from the entrance of a garage. The argument escalated. Klotsche admits he was rude, responding to the man, "Why are you so grumpy? Are you frustrated? Isn't your wife nice to you?" He also called him an arschloch.

Still, Klotsche was surprised a few weeks later when he got a summons informing him the man has sued. He hired a lawyer and settled out of court.

"I was young and brash. I've since learned I have to control my temper here," Klotsche said.

Often, criminal insult cases are filed by public prosecutors, especially if the insulted party is a police officer or other public servant or if the case is thought to be in the public interest.

Tom Kormicki, an investment banker, was prosecuted criminally after a 1991 dispute outside a Berlin farmer's market. He said that he was sitting in his car waiting for a friend when an elderly man threatened to report him to the police for double parking.

"Fine, I'll spell my name for you, K-O-R-M-I-C-K-I," Kormicki says he told the elderly man.

"What is that, a Polish name?" the man asked him.

"What are you? A Stasi informant?" Kormicki says he responded, referring to the despised secret police that terrorized East Germany.

Kormicki says his fatal mistake was that he raised his voice, speaking loudly enough for witnesses to hear. He initially was ordered to pay about $1,200, but a lawyer negotiated it down to $300.

"It was more annoying than anything else. If it had happened in England or the United States, we would have concluded that we had both insulted each other equally and wouldn't bother going to court," Kormicki said.

Nevertheless, Kormicki says he subsequently tried to sue someone who had given him the finger but failed for lack of witnesses.

Hans-Georg Doerring, who published a study of insult cases brought in the 1970s in three German cities, found that many of the suits involved neighbors, with the most common points of contention being parking spaces and screaming children.

German prosecutors have used the law to crack down on right-wing radicals and on anti-Semitism.