Last month, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced that she had decided to ban the nationalist magazine Compact, which she described as ‘the central mouthpiece of the far right’.
On Wednesday, however, a higher court overturned the ban and Compact was allowed to continue publishing. The court stressed that the decision was ‘temporary’.
The decision is a major blow to the ‘traffic light’ coalition, which has defined ‘right-wing extremism’ as the greatest threat to ‘German democracy’ and is determined to ‘eradicate it’.
Wednesday’s ruling by the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig appears to have frustrated the government’s efforts for the time being.
We will not give up our fight against the enemies of the constitution,’ Faeser said after the ruling.
Faeser said the decision in Leipzig was ‘a completely normal process’.
Compact editor-in-chief Jürgen Elsässer told reporters in Berlin on Thursday that the August issue had been printed before the ban and was available.
According to Elsässer, however, distribution and subscription records are missing because they were confiscated by various state police forces when the ban was imposed.
Until the necessary equipment is returned, Elsässer said, the online format ‘Compact TV’ is likely to resume broadcasting.
Elsässer stresses ‘peaceful revolution against the GDR’
Elsässer described Wednesday’s verdict as ‘a victory of democracy over dictatorship’ and a success of ‘the people against the regime’.
Speaking later at an AfD event in Sebnitz, Saxony, Elsässer said that there were still judges who ‘do not let themselves be persuaded by politics and make completely objective judgements’ and argued that this was an important decision for ‘freedom of the press’.
Junge Welt also reported that Elsässer, who spoke of ‘regime collapse’ and cited the ‘peaceful revolution of 1989/90’ in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as an example, was ‘holding up a reactionary, anti-communist mirror to the government and the right-wing institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany’.
Elsässer, 67, was formerly editor-in-chief of the left-wing Junge Welt. After leaving the left-wing Junge Welt, he moved to Jungle World, which he co-founded, and eventually founded the new right-wing media project Compact, which is close to the AfD and the fascist ‘Identitarian Movement’.
AfD calls for Brandenburg intelligence chief to be sacked
In Brandenburg, on the other hand, the AfD sees the failure of its first attempt to ban Compact magazine as an opportunity for its state election campaign.
The tide has turned,’ said Hans-Christoph Berndt, the AfD’s top candidate and parliamentary leader, at a joint press conference with Elsässer in the state parliament in Potsdam on Thursday.
Both sharply criticised Brandenburg’s domestic intelligence agency.
Berndt called for the immediate dismissal of its head, Jörg Müller.
In 2021, the state’s domestic intelligence agency was the first in Germany to classify the magazine Compact as ‘right-wing extremist’.
Our first demand is that this person be dismissed immediately,’ Berndt said, adding that Compact had no problems with the agency before Müller’s appointment. Berndt added that Faeser, the CDU’s Michael Stübgen and Müller should be held accountable.
