The court in Oranienburg in Brandenburg judged the 27-year-old to be guilty of inciting racial hatred, after he admitted that the tattoo was visible during a visit to a public swimming pool.

Prosecutors had called for a much more stringent ten-month sentence without probation for the man, who already has a police record for causing bodily harm and who sits on the local council in Barnim.

The tattoo on the man’s lower back depicts Auschwitz death camp accompanied by the text “Jedem das Seine” (to each what he deserves) which appeared above the entrance to Buchenwald concentration camp.

While the tattoo itself is not illegal, displaying it in public is. As soon as the bearer were to pull a T-Shirt over it there would no longer be a problem, legally speaking.

The prosecution argued that its display minimised the Holocaust and posed a threat to public order.

Neo-Nazis normally cover up prohibited symbols they've had tattooed onto their skin with tape or plasters when appearing in public, Die Zeit reports.