Lemmy is being investigated by the German authorities after a photograph of him wearing what looks suspiciously like an SS hat appeared in a German newspaper shortly before Motorhead played a gig in the at the Wacken Rocks Seaside concert in Aurich.
Wearing or displaying Nazi emblems and memorabilia is forbidden under the German penal code, and according to local reports, Lemmy could end up being prosecuted. However Sabine Kahmann, a spokesperson from the Aurich police department, said that they were powerless to act as "the decision [to prosecute] has to be made by the public prosecutor".
Lemmy has long collected Nazi memorabilia, and has made no excuses for his hobby. In a recent interview he explained his fascination for the sharp togs of Hitler’s misadventures: "I’ll tell you something about history. From the beginning of time, the bad guys always had the best uniforms. Napoleon, the Confederates, the Nazis. They all had killer uniforms. I mean, the SS uniform is fucking brilliant! They were the rock stars of that time. What you’re gonna do? They just look good. Don’t tell me, I’m a Nazi ’cause I have uniforms. In 1967 I had my first black girlfriend and a lot of more ever since then. I just don’t understand racism, I never thought it was an option."
He added that he wasn’t just a Nazi memorabilia buff, but was partial to the apparel of other unpleasant regimes too: "I don’t only collect Nazi stuff, I collect objects from all the ‘axis countries.’ Also from countries who aren’t even mentioned anymore as former part of the axis. Like Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Hungary. OK, in the end, they all said, ‘We’re no Nazis’ when they saw that the Germans were losing it. But five years before that, they went, ‘Yeah!’"
