Nazi Gnomes = Art?

This isn't specifically NJ related but anything Nazi related is of great importance to North Jersey Judaism.

via Time Magazine

What could possibly make someone want to create gnomes giving the Nazi salute? Let the artist speak for himself:

The gnome's creator, German artist Ottmar Hörl, says he never intended to offend anyone, and can't understand what all the fuss is about. He points out that 700 of his saluting gnomes went on show in Ghent, Belgium, at the end of last year to no complaints. "They were part of an exhibition against the far right," he says. "Nobody had a problem with them." Each of the gnomes has the word poisoned inscribed at its base. "People everywhere in the world can be ideologically poisoned, just as Germans were by the Nazis," says Hörl. The artist defends his work as a form of satire — he just wanted to poke fun at the Nazis by depicting them as gnomes. "I would probably have been killed by the Nazis if I'd dared to depict the Aryan 'super race' as gnomes in 1942," he says.

Hörl, 59, says he's fascinated by the symbol of the garden gnome, which has its origins in Germany — many believe the first ceramic garden gnomes were made in the central German town of Gräfenroda in the mid-19th century — and regularly features it in his work. "The garden gnome is an ironic figure," he says. "We don't take it seriously, but it can hold a serious message."

Germany takes this stuff pretty seriously; they are pretty stringent on their Nazi stuff. Prosecutors are currently looking into the case. Oh, what a world.

Read the full article, Nazi Gnomes in Germany.