Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) is being used for political purposes and is protecting the interests of the Berlin Government’s three coalition parties, the Social Democrats, the Greens, and the liberal FDP, according to a BfV official who spoke anonymously about his concerns to the Schwäbische Zeitung.
The man, referred to as Gregor S. in the article, said the agency is not competent enough to investigate serious enemies of the state, genuinely violent left-wing and right-wing terrorists or radical Islamists, and instead goes after people who should not be of interest to the BfV: people who don’t like the Greens, hang up posters or submit posts on social media that are critical of the state. “What used to be considered legally acceptable criticism can now be a reason for the BfV to target someone,” he explained. The agency is devoting a lot of time to investigate not only these targets but their whole environment, their employers, their friends, their lovers.
In the meantime, they also receive information that is inconvenient, and is ignored by the BfV—such as extremist tendencies or developments within mainstream parties, like the Social Democrats, the Greens, and the left-wing Die Linke. This kind of information would be relevant to the services, but the BfV doesn’t dare touch it, says Gregor S. The current situation “undermines the rule of law much more than any skinhead could ever manage,” he adds.
Gregor S.’s words echo those of Hans-Georg Maaßen, who was the head of the BfV from 2012 to 2018. In an interview last year, he said that the BfV’s duty is to protect the constitution; it shouldn’t serve the interests of the government, and it definitely shouldn’t protect the government from the opposition. The agency placed Maaßen under observation this year for his alleged proximity to individuals in the ‘right-wing extremist’ scene. He accused Interior Minister Nancy Faeser—who oversees the BfV—of misusing the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz to combat political opponents.
In the past five years, Maaßen has been an outspoken critic of mass migration into Germany, the left-wing government’s woke agenda, and climate policies. He also disapproves of his country sending weapons to Ukraine in the war against Russia—many reasons to have him stigmatised. One of the texts cited by the BfV in its investigation against Maaßen was an article in Die Weltwoche, in which he accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Nancy Faeser of working to bring about the “collapse of German society” via mass migration in order “to build a neo-socialist social system on its rubble.”
The anti-globalist right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) makes the same argument as Maaßen regarding the witch hunt against political opponents of the current government. The opposition party, which has been riding high in opinion polls, has been labelled an extremist organisation by the BfV, which means the agency can use intelligence tools against the AfD, such as phone tapping, intercepting emails, or recruiting informants from inside the party.
Critics of the government say that the country’s institutions are being weaponised to persecute anyone who deviates from mainstream thinking. As we recently reported, a 16-year-old student was removed from class and interrogated by police after she allegedly expressed support for the AfD and posted right-wing content online. We also reported on how police officers themselves who are suspected of holding opinions deemed unacceptable by Nancy Faeser and her political allies, risk having their employment terminated under a new law.