A German Jewish doctor has refused to operate on a patient after seeing a Nazi tattoo on his arm.

The patient, in the city of Paderborn in North Rhine-Westphalia, had a graphic on his arm of a swastika and the Bundesadler (Imperial Eagle), the German national symbol adopted by the Nazi party.

According to the newspaper Bild, the doctor said it would go against his conscience to treat the 36-year-old man.

He told the patient’s wife: “I’m Jewish. I will not operate on your husband”.

Since the Holocaust, the display of Nazi symbols and regalia has been illegal in Germany. A breach can result in a three - year prison sentence.

In a 2009 study researchers found that five per cent of 15-year-old German boys belonged to right-wing extremist groups.