German Cops Probe Artist's 'Nazi' Gnome

The German artist who intended to mock his nation's Nazi past with a golden garden gnome saluting "Sieg Heil" is in man-size trouble, reports the BBC. Nuremburg police are investigating whether the bearded gnome—on display in a local gallery—violates Germany's strict ban on Nazi propaganda and symbols. The creature was originally part of hundreds of Nazi-saluting gnomes exhibited by the artist at a Belgium museum.

"I'm astonished that a single garden gnome has unleashed such a public discussion," says artist Ottmar Hörl, 59, who is president of Nuremberg's Academy of Fine Arts. "I get the feeling that this gnome has reopened an old wound." (More Nazi stories.)