In the German state of Bavaria, the Munich-based “climate protection” activist Lisa Poettinger has been refused permission to become a teacher.
Because of her use of the “Marxist method of analysis” and her involvement in an “anticapitalist climate plenary assembly,” the Bavarian State Ministry of Education and Culture announced that the 28-year-old Poettinger “has doubts about her loyalty to the constitution.”
“You are prohibited from being admitted to the preparatory service for the teaching profession in primary schools in February 2025,” Poettinger was informed on Tuesday. The teenager’s traineeship was due to start in less than a week. Poettinger’s lawyer Adelheid Rupp told junge Welt (jW) that the 105-page letter justified the ban almost exclusively by referring to statements by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
For example, Poettinger had described the International Motor Show (IAA) in an interview as “a symbol of profit maximization at the expense of people, the environment, and the climate.” “According to the Constitutional Protection Agency of 5 November 2024, the term ‘profit maximization’ originates from communism and devalues the pursuit of profit in the economy,” the state said in its notification.
The state accused the young student teacher of “not only criticizing capitalism” with his statements, but also “advocating anti-capitalism.”
“Advocacy of the ‘class struggle'” is also incompatible with a “free democratic basic order,” because, according to the domestic intelligence service, it is synonymous with “a demand for the abolition of capitalism,” the state statement emphasized.
According to Counselor Rupp, the Basic Law and the Bavarian Constitution seem to have been constructed in such a way that they envisage a capitalist system.
Poettinger was even surprised that his commitment was categorized as “extreme left-wing.” According to the ministry, this showed that Poettinger lacked the willingness to think critically that is necessary for teachers.
Poettinger had already become an enemy of the right-wing-conservative state government in January 2024 when, as the leader of a large rally called “Together against the right,” she declared that CSU Chancellor Markus Söder was not welcome to attend and was subsequently branded an “extremist” by the Springer media.
“Anyone who is committed to climate protection and democracy in their spare time and uses terms that the state government does not like can be declared unfit to teach English to children in Bavaria,” Poettinger said of the ban, which he described as a serious attack on fundamental rights to education and freedom of expression.
Poettinger’s lawyer has announced that she will file a lawsuit in the administrative court to have the scandalous decision cancelled.
On the other hand, the Munich District Court also issued a bizarre judgement in December. After convicting a firefighter of rape, the court explicitly refrained from imposing a higher sentence on the grounds that the accused would otherwise lose his civil servant status.
