if you buy a new license plate in germany, you can customize it to suit your wishes and ideas: for example, if you want to see your own initials behind the abbreviation of your city, you can have this done without any problems. Often, drivers also want letters that form a word together with the city abbreviation, such as B-OY or HA-SE. But not all combinations are allowed by law – and that is a good thing. car owners who, for example, want to use their license plates to commemorate the darkest era in german history and spread unacceptable attitudes in this way have absolutely no chance of success.
forbidden license plates in germany: which license plate is allowed and which is not?
Prohibited license plates: germany’s federal states have different regulations
There are many abbreviations with two letters from national socialism. For example, some right-wingers would like to see the combination "HH 88" (for "heil hitler") or "AH 18" (for "adolf hitler") after their city abbreviation. In general: according to § 8 paragraph 1 of the vehicle registration ordinance (FZV), both the combination of the distinguishing number and the combination of the distinguishing sign and the distinguishing number "must not be contrary to public decency". However, the interpretation of this regulation – as in many other matters – is the responsibility of the federal states. They have different regulations, which abbreviations on license plates they forbid. The abbreviations KZ, SA, HJ and SS are forbidden on license plates throughout Germany. no license plate manufacturer in the federal republic is allowed to print these letter combinations on a license plate. Here is an overview of which letter abbreviations are forbidden in which federal state:
| State |
forbidden license plates |
| schleswig-holstein |
KZ, HJ, NS, SA, SS. Also considered critical are the combinations: IZ-AN (backwards for NAZI) and HEI-L |
| mecklenburg-vorpommern |
KZ, HJ, NS, SA, SS |
| saxony-anhalt |
KZ, HJ, SA, SS. Prohibited number combination: 88im saalekreis verboten: SK-IN |
| lower saxony |
KZ, HJ, NS, SA, SS |
| berlin |
KZ, HJ, NS, SA, SS |
| brandenburg |
KZ, HJ, NS, SA, SS. forbidden numbers: 14, 18, 28, 88, 188, 1888, 8888 and 8818. Prohibited combinations: JN, HH and AH with 18 |
| north rhine-westphalia |
KZ, HJ, NS, SA, SS |
| hesse |
KZ, HJ, NS, SA, SS and SD |
| thuringia |
KZ, HJ, NS, SA, SS |
| saxony |
KZ, HJ, NS, SA, SS |
| rhineland-palatinate |
KZ, HJ, NS, SA, SS and SD. Prohibited combinations: HH 18 and HH 88 |
| baden-wurttemberg |
KZ, HJ, NS, SA, SS |
| bavaria |
prohibited letter combinations: KZ, HJ, NS, SA, SS. Forbidden combinations: AH and HH with 88 and 18, if applicable. Even with 28basically, the registration authorities allow discretionary leeway for the letter combinations HH and AH: in the case of "recognizable national socialist sentiments," the registration authorities are to "enforce further restrictions".Also not issued are N-PD and recently also N-SU, existing license plates with these combinations do not have to, but can be replaced free of charge. |
While the combination HH 88 is banned on license plates in many federal states, the employees of the Bavarian registration authorities are instructed to take a thorough look at the applicant and decide on the basis of whether he or she represents right-wing views or not. Accordingly, a regionally known nazi will not receive his desired license plate HH 88, because he violates good morals with this license plate according to the FZV. The problem: not every right-wing extremist will identify himself as such.
in hamburg all license plates start with HH..
reserve HH-preferred license plate
Austria also bans offensive abbreviations
Symbols and abbreviations made up of letters and numbers play an important role in the far-right scene, according to a statement from the interior ministry of rhineland-palatinate. Apparently one wants to announce in these circles with a license plate subtly his sympathy for right-wing thought to recognize each other also. Here are some nazi abbreviations and their meaning at a glance:
| Abbreviation |
meaning |
| HH |
heil hitler |
| HJ |
hitler youth |
| NS |
national socialism |
| KZ |
concentration camp |
| SS |
protection squadron of the NSDAP |
| SA |
STORM DEPARTMENT |
| SD |
reich security service |
| NPD |
national democratic party of germany |
| NSU |
national socialist underground |
| 18 |
for the first and the 8th. Letters in alphabet: AH=adolf hitler |
| 88 |
for HH=heil hitler |
| 74 |
GD=great germany |
There are also banned license plates in austria. germany’s neighboring country wants to publish a list of about 30 letter and number combinations that are no longer allowed to appear on car license plates. Currently, there is only a legal regulation that prohibits about the same abbreviations as in Germany. However, since new abbreviations frequently appear that could be offensive, immoral or politically incorrect, the binding list is to be drawn up. So Austria forbids in the future also the abbreviation IS (reminiscent of "islamic state") on wish-plates. There are no concrete plans yet for a uniform regulation of banned license plates in germany.
With material from mirror online
44 thoughts on" banned license plates in germany – national socialist abbreviations not allowed"
- Bernd9. October 2015 at 8:04
complete nonsense. The nazis can now randomly think up meanings for all imaginable letter combinations, which then have to be blocked. Soon the USA will have to change its name, too, because it could stand for "unser seeliger adolf".
- Frank13. February 2016 at 21:24
I may speak on behalf of my wife, silvia A. Did not get a license plate. But hannover ,H-KL (hauptkampflinie) ; O-KW etc. May exist? Are then all nazis?
Poor kollen, K-PD..All communists?
Ask the population today, who still knows the abbreviations? But IS is still valid and that knows the biggest part.
- Mi29. January 2019 at 19:04
In fact, today I have the license plate
D-IS seen in 2001..
That’s how it is – best we abolish german – the nazis have spoken german in their living rooms!
IF there are to be any bans or rules, then please make them uniform. I, for one, found it disconcerting to drive behind an elbstadter who had **-HH88 on his license plate.
- Matzo15. September 2017 at 20:13
I have also seen this sign on the freeway….
- Phil leone7. September 2020 at 2:54
Haha – haha even the chickens are laughing at the antifa!
- Asinus28. January 2021 at 2:37
I don’t know that the collective of antifa in germany currently has so much political influence that they could decide that
So hamburg HH would have to be banned
When will "MT" be banned? The mother’s day was also invented in the twelve years&
- Hape Schubert22. June 2019 at 15:33
There you are badly informed. The mother’s day was introduced "in the twelve years" only in Germany. Invented around 1912 in the USA.
No, Mother’s Day was invented by the us suffragettes (around 1890), but it was made famous by the local florists who introduced it from around. 1920 marketing technique for advertising purposes. From the D.R. Hingegen originated the mother cross, which meant however not that cross, which has to carry some mother with their blagen&
Have myself the problem to be equipped with the initailien NS. Had that also gladly as a license plate had (am in no case right-wing minded . ) is probably not possible
- Sandy schotz17. April 2018 at 20:58
I feel the same way about the mark. Would like to take the first two letters of first and last name and my year of birth (SS-88) is also forbidden and I am also not right in contrast.
Then you should also ban IS immediately and finally
- Dorian17. June 2019 at 18:22
I find it totally pointless, this is the result of boredom
i collect funny license plates and find it very stupid that SS is not allowed to be on the license plate it is just normal letters
and if SS,SA,NS etc. Forbidden is then I wonder why some people who are called hans this name may wear and why in books also SS is in it (would have to be actually also acquired or?)
i am against these stupid bans
goodbye
- Tim26. December 2019 at 22:10
I absolutely agree. This is meaningless whining of letters because they could theoretically have something to do with the past (especially NSU)!! – i think of the car brand and not of a terror movement…).
But as for communism and the serious crimes in stalinism, no one would care first, 100% of the bans have something to do with national socialism. but other forms of socialism are still present in politics.
Also the ban of NPD makes no sense at all, because the party is legally active in germany.
I personally have the opinion that in principle first of all the freedom is restricted. But now the big BUT: germany has an identification problem with the nazis. So it is absolutely understandable that bans of this kind were pronounced. I absolutely understand that and have to come up with something else with my initials which unfortunately are SS. Who wears initials like AH, NS or even SA can turn them around and make a license plate with xx-HA xxxx xx-SN xxxx and xx-AS xxxx. For people with SS this is not possible.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I would be the last person who would decide for nazis, but I would be for the fact that such people are entitled to an "extra sausage", because they have to submit to the rules. How this extra sausage should look, I do not really care, but I feel disadvantaged and would like to have an advantage again, to get out to 0.
Yes, I like to provoke reactions, but really: I will not claim to want to print my initials on a license plate. Never.
I find the bans very reasonable . There should be only a uniform license plate for all:
I was born in 1988 and my initials are A and H. I can not do anything for that? I think it is unfair to forbid me to have an easy to remember license plate made for me. I understand why this ban exists, but I think it is not correct to the democratic and left-minded citizens who just want to remember their mark well!
- Peter strasmann18. August 2019 at 8:22
As far as I know, the letter combination AH is not forbidden at all, my neighbor has it on her car too. AH is not forbidden, but 18, which should mean the same, is forbidden. Understand this.
1988 is not forbidden.
Of course, license plates should not spread obvious negative messages.
But if you go wild with combinations of numbers like 18, 25, 28 … and meaningless combinations of letters, which mean nothing to normal citizens, and for which you have to do a lot of research until you find out their alleged "meaning", you turn your efforts into the opposite and update (almost) forgotten nazi-ideas again.
How does it go on?
– the ISO-code of belgium (BE) has to be changed ? [blood +honor]
– the country code of kazakhstan (KZ) has to be changed?
– we will rename blei (PB – latin for plumbum)? [protectorate of bohemia]
– and the USA? -> see comment above from bernd
– we will delete the year 2018 and go directly to 2019? Because of the 18?
– hotel rooms with 18, 25, 28, 88 … are abolished or renamed?
The list can be continued at will. Evil is who thinks and does evil.
You should stop letting highly paid people research and spread such crap, or offer me the job. Then I can earn a lot of money with almost zero performance.
- GUTSCHILD9. November 2017 at 14:32
You have hit the mark!
Total bullshit……I have a license plate with SS
Sad that every hamburger is declared a nazi by the authorities. Now I also understand the leftist violence and destruction in hamburg.
That was then obviously only a rebellion against the last nazi bastion in Germany!
If HH is banned then no cars are allowed to drive in hamburg. Bullshit.
.
Vollidioten… This is the result of boredom… It should not be forgotten since it is our history, but pay attention to the whole even less… applause for the law&
- Heinrich v schott13. November 2018 at 16:34
The italians were the first nationalists with benito mussolini, so they can’t have a license plate with BM, or MB?
My motorcycle was built at the company NSU. It is also written on the tank. And this is what I drive every day.
Who wants to forbid me that?
None of the above license plate letter combinations is prohibited by the way. There is nothing in the penal code. It’s administrative practice, it’s easily legally challengeable, and not law.
Bye with two s as it should be,
henry, born in ’88
- Tim26. December 2019 at 22:17
I have never heard of the national socialist underground until visiting this site. I think that also not many know this movement and most also just think of the two- and four-wheeled NSU.
Besides, the NPD is a legal party in Germany, how pathologically left-wing extremist do you have to be to want to ban it?. Next there will be a ban on AFD on the license plate, take the CDU right along with it.
I would be interested to know if 40 years of GDR injustice are simply swept under the carpet by the authorities.
what about the comibnations S-ED, M-FS, STA-SI, K-PD, D-KP ?? Are they all allowed?
Why all the excitement? There are many people who do not get their desired license plate, mostly because they are already taken. You just have to be a little creative! When someone calls konstantin ziegler o.a. Means, he can also use ZK as abbreviation. If someone wants to indicate his year of birth, he can write 1988 instead of 88. And the abbreviation HH is i.D.R. Only forbidden with the appropriate license plate (as stated above in the text). Who on the 1.8. If someone has a birthday, he can use 108, etc.
I honestly don’t understand why someone who claims not to be right-wing has the need to drive around with a license plate that is used as a code by right-wing radicals.
And no, I don’t think all hamburgers are nazis, nobody is that stupid! HH is the official license plate for hansestadt hamburg and not the desired abbreviation, which is in the middle..
The license plates are all reasonably understandable why they are banned but what I do not understand is why KKK is not banned have seen this on many cars
A girlfriend would have SS, is forbidden, she has taken another.
My uncle would have HJ, also forbidden, he had to turn around, has now JH.
I do not want to think about the 3 all the time. Reich are remembered and in my area there are enough young people who have such a tight right-wing mindset and want to show it on their cars.
So then there is still the number 33.
Just saw a license plate from karlsruhe: KA PO xxx. In switzerland kapo stands for kantonspolizei (cantonal police) and is no longer a nuisance. but when i read in wiki what the abbreviation stands for in germany, one is surprised that this combination is allowed at all.
Thank you for the contribution on the subject of banned license plates. My cousin wants to order a custom license plate and was wondering what license plates are prohibited. Good to know that the license plates in general must not offend good morals.
But marks like "STA-SI " are OK… understand this who wants to.
In the ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF GERMANY (bechtermund verlag) on page 330 is a car with the
to see the three letters beginning SES. But nowhere is there a directory with these three letters as car – license plates .
