EXCLUSIVE: Berlin police launch criminal investigation into Roger Waters

Police in Berlin have opened a criminal investigation into suspected incitement by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters following a concert in Berlin in which he dressed in a uniform resembling a Nazi officer, Jewish News can reveal. 

Waters wore a long leather jacket and gloves with a Nazi-like red armband, depicting crossed hammers instead of swastikas, during his concert at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on 17 May.

Police chief inspector Martin Halweg said: “The State Security Department at the Berlin State Criminal Police Office has initiated a criminal investigation procedure regarding the suspicion of incitement of the people (140 Paragraph 4 of the German criminal Code).

“The context of the clothing worn is deemed capable of approving, glorifying or justifying the violent and arbitrary rule of the Nazi regime in a manner that violates the dignity of the victims and thereby disrupts public peace. After the conclusion of the investigation, the case will be forwarded to the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office for legal assessment,” the police chief added.

After the graphics were used during Waters gig in Berlin, the Israel Foreign Ministry on Twitter also wrote: “Good morning to every one but Roger Waters, who spent the evening in Berlin (Yes Berlin) desecrating the memory of Anne Frank and the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.”

Waters also compared the death of Palestinian Al Jazeera  journalist Shireen Abu Akleh with that of Anne Frank, the Jewish diarist who died in the Belsen Nazi death camp.

Waters is due to play another concert in Frankfurt this weekend, causing the Jewish community in the city to arrange a demonstration outside the event.

• Pola Sarah Nathusius, Distribution strategist at ARD, contributed to this report. 

Hmmm…looks like a Nazi to me…what do you think David? https://t.co/lYquoFSNDi

— shmuel ben yakov (@rabbisbenj) May 25, 2023