"It's racist simply because I think it is. Also others have agreed."
What cobblers.
I have heard it all now.
It's crass and disgusting, but by no stretch of the imagination (except yours) is it racist. You are using that in the usual sloppy way to put a label on something you dont like. But it sounds daft.
Also YMB, it was a German person who was taking the photograph. A moment of ignorant banter can easily ruin your career, especially when you're making light of a genocide.
I'd like to see the other photographs he presented as evidence before I finally decide- could be he's an habitual moron- but I seriously doubt it. I imagine he did a Zeig Heil salute because he thought it was big and clever and he's seen some other muppet he wished to emulate do it.
I don't see how having his hand over his mouth like that could possibly make the sound carry. It'd direct it into the backs of the people in front of him.
But as for being uneducated - that sounds plausible.
How could he say that he didn't know it was the Nazi salute. He surely remembers the Greek footballer a few years ago making the same salute. That footballer was banned for life from playing for his National team.