In a significant blow to the censorship apparatus in Germany, a court has lifted the ban imposed on the Compact magazine by former leftist Interior Minister Nancy Faeser for supposedly spreading right-wing “extremism”.
The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig affirmed this week that freedom of expression protections must be afforded to the press, including media outlets that oppose the current political order and, therefore, overturned the ban on Compact magazine, broadcaster NTV reports.
In July of last year, then-Interior Minister Nancy Faeser issued a ban against the publication, arguing that it served as a “central mouthpiece for the right-wing extremist scene”. The Interior Ministry cited the magazine publishing essays from Austrian identitarian activist Martin Sellner and articles from writers formerly associated with the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD).
While a final decision on the ban remains to be made, Compact will be free to operate in the interim, and lawyers for the magazine have expressed confidence that the ruling against the ban will stand.
Faeser, who was ousted from her role following her leftist Social Democrat Party’s embarrassing defeat at the general election earlier this year, pledged to continue the fight against “enemies of the constitution.”
In turn, Compact Editor-in-Chief Jürgen Elsässer said that his magazine prevailed over “the authoritarian, not to say fascist, attacks of Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, adding that the judicial decision “was a victory for David over Goliath, a victory for democracy over dictatorship and a victory for the people over the regime.”
Elsässer went on to say that the August edition of the magazine can be delivered, however, he noted that some difficulties remain, saying that as a result of the ban, the state had confiscated the publication’s documents and equipment. “We have no desks, no chairs, no computers, no documentation, no files. We have nothing left,” he said.
Nevertheless, the Compact chief said the ban may ultimately play in their favour, given that it has significantly raised their profile. “Before Faeser’s attack, perhaps two million Germans knew us. Now it should be 60 million,” Elsässer said.
The failure by Faeser — who has also faced criticism for writing for an Antifa-linked magazine — was roundly criticised by establishment politicians. Christian Social Union (CSU) Bundestag member Alexander Hoffmann said it “shed a devastating light on Ms. Faeser’s expertise.”
Former Free Democrat MP Konstantin Kuhle added that the decision was “embarrassing for the Federal Ministry of the Interior” and allowed Compact to portray itself as a victim of state overreach.
In addition to being embarrassing for Faeser, the decision may also have further political implications, particularly the attempt by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) to brand the anti-mass migration Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party a “right-wing extremist” organisation.
The move, currently under review, was also made when the political spy agency was operating under the leadership of then-Interior Minister Faeser.
Former head of the BfV, Hans Georg Maaßen (Maassen), said earlier this year that the decision to allow for further state surveillance of the right-wing party was likely made at Faeser’s behest to “attack political rivals in an unscrupulous way.”
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