Regarding “Reminder that we should be very grateful here in America that we have the right of free speech, for Europeans enjoy no such right.” and Germany:
The basis for the claim made by the German embassy is the following section of the German criminal code (§ 140 StGB—translation by me):
“If one of the unlawful acts specified in section 138 (1) numbers 2 to 4 and 5 last alternative or in section 126 (1) or an unlawful act pursuant to section 176 (1) or to sections 176c and 176d
is rewarded after it has been committed or attempted in a punishable manner, or
is approved in a manner likely to disturb the public peace, publicly, in a meeting or by disseminating a content (Section 11 (3)),
that is punishable by imprisonment for not more than three years or by a fine.”
The acts in section 138 are, e.g., murder, high treason, and relevant here, conducting a war of aggression.
In Germany, the government does not have the right to decide what you can say. But it is true that there are some very specific things that are by law forbidden to say in public (mostly as a result of the crimes committed by Nazi Germany).
Regarding “Reminder that we should be very grateful here in America that we have the right of free speech, for Europeans enjoy no such right.” and Germany:
The basis for the claim made by the German embassy is the following section of the German criminal code (§ 140 StGB—translation by me):
“If one of the unlawful acts specified in section 138 (1) numbers 2 to 4 and 5 last alternative or in section 126 (1) or an unlawful act pursuant to section 176 (1) or to sections 176c and 176d
is rewarded after it has been committed or attempted in a punishable manner, or
is approved in a manner likely to disturb the public peace, publicly, in a meeting or by disseminating a content (Section 11 (3)),
that is punishable by imprisonment for not more than three years or by a fine.”
The acts in section 138 are, e.g., murder, high treason, and relevant here, conducting a war of aggression.
In Germany, the government does not have the right to decide what you can say. But it is true that there are some very specific things that are by law forbidden to say in public (mostly as a result of the crimes committed by Nazi Germany).