Thank You, Mr. Maaßen!
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) goes against political opponents. If you don't understand what's happening in Germany, you don't want to understand it.
»Criticism of the Greens as a criminal offense. Instead of going to class, children go to marches against the opposition — and woe betide them if they don’t!«
In light of the recent events in Germany surrounding the former head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Dr. Hans-Georg Maaßen, I am going to translate an essay by Dushan Wegner — one of the few contemporary philosophers who doesn’t mince his words when it comes to explosive topics.
By Dushan Wegner, June 21, 2023 — English translation by DeepThought
There is no longer any excuse. Anyone who still doesn’t see it doesn’t want to see it. And January 31, 2024 was the deadline.
On this day, excerpts from Dr. Hans-Georg Maaßen’s digital constitution protection file became public. (Today, “files” are no longer paper folders, but entries in databases that are then compiled by search query — after someone has compiled and entered them. This allows you to quickly “research” what you might have on your political opponent at any time).
Mr. Maaßen himself used to be head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). But when he refused to back up the Chemnitz lie about the hunts [for migrants] (see essay from 17.9.2018; Ger.), which the German government used to slander German citizens, he had to vacate his position. He was replaced by the now infamous Mr. Haldenwang.
Mr. Maaßen has now founded a much-needed party, the “WerteUnion”* [Union of values]. In doing so, he is demonstrating his faith in democracy. And he is also giving many voters back a bit of democratic hope, namely that they can once again decide their own fate in democratic elections. (No, it’s not a full democracy if it doesn’t really matter who you vote for, because only the new big unity party ever forms a coalition).
With this great commitment to democracy and this demonstrated belief in the power and importance of democratic elections and voting options, Maaßen, as expected, became an opponent of those establishment figures who talk about “our” democracy — and mean it very literally.
*[Note: The “WerteUnion” is a new German conservative party co-founded by Hans-Georg Maaßen, which is causing increasing headaches for the long-established Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – the party of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel – as it is not only losing voters, but also members and MPs. However, Maaßen, against whom the CDU leadership was already planning to initiate expulsion proceedings, pre-empted these efforts with his recent resignation from the party. His letter of resignation to the current CDU parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz (former Blackrock board member in Germany) is quite something and can be viewed here. His recent announcement, which came at the worst possible time (i.e., upcoming state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg), not only for the CDU, to possibly form a coalition with the AfD, caused panic in the ailing left-green government coalition under Chancellor Scholz and is also likely to have led to the German government now openly discussing an AfD party ban.]
»a staunch Republican«
We now learn that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution – an agency of the Ministry of the Interior under Nancy ‘publishes with Antifa’ Faeser – has created a digital file on Mr. Maaßen, and that he is listed there internally under the keyword “right-wing extremist”.
I recommend everyone to read the excerpts themselves, you can find them on the homepage of Dr. Maaßen himself (hgmaasen.com, Jan. 2024; Ger.).
[Note: Excerpts from this file can also be found in the latest article by
, who has taken the effort to translate it into English. Thanks to him for this! – https://www.eugyppius.com/p/german-domestic-intelligence-services]And pick out any one of the points!
For example, point one: an (alleged) right-wing extremist (I don’t know him) mentioned Maaßen and called him “a staunch Republican”.
To be mentioned positively by someone who is listed as a “right-wing extremist” is enough in Germany today to have it noted in your constitution protection file.
Or the second point: A person close to the “Reichsbürger” is said to have shared videos of Mr. Maaßen on their Facebook page.
Today, that’s enough to be noted in your constitutional protection file. A person close to evil people has shared your video without you doing anything!
And it continues at this intellectual level.
Elected, therefore “deselectable”
Perhaps the file keepers don’t care, but they probably don’t even realize that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is also documenting its own, less democratic attitude through the selection of quotations.
For example, Maaßen is recorded as saying in the context of the arrest of so-called Reichsbürger: »The greatest threat to internal security is neither Reichsbürger nor violent migrants, but incompetent and unwilling politicians who govern.«
Could there be a more democratic statement than directing the anger away from the political or cultural fringe groups towards the elected and therefore also “deselectable” government?
That is the essence of democracy, that politicians are changed regularly like diapers, and for the same reasons. (By the way, I’m quoting Robin Williams in the movie “Man of the Year”, dear constitutionalists, not Mark Twain. Just so you can keep my file in a culturally correct manner).
Be sure to read the file excerpts yourself, via hgmaassen.com [or in English via Eugyppius].
For its upcoming election campaign, the WerteUnion simply needs to distribute a copy of Dr. Hans-Georg Maaßen’s constitution protection file to voters as a brochure.
Whenever you read this text: January 31, 2024 was a turning point, because some questions were answered. (Including the question of whether Helmut Schmidt would be considered a right-wing extremist today – yes, he would – but read for yourself how Maaßen channels his inner Schmidt).
To criticize them
You can even learn from the Maaßen file and become smarter!
Thanks to the diligent work of the constitutional protection file makers, we read a clean, modern definition of what I call “state broadcasting”: »I don’t call them public service anymore, but: they are state media. Public service only describes, let me say, the legal status.« »They don't turn against governments and those in power to criticize them, to accompany them critically, but against those who criticize them. But against those who oppose them, and that is fighting the enemy. I now see the state media as a threat to our free and democratic basic order.«
Thank you, Mr. Maaßen, for this clear interpretation of the term!
And, “thank you”, Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, for noting these clever, important and correct thoughts in your file on Mr. Maaßen.
And “thank you”, you file managers, for documenting that asking the media to criticize the other three “powers” as the “fourth power” is now considered “right-wing extremist”.
It apparently also annoys the file producers that, according to Mr. Maaßen, you always get Greens, whatever you vote for (so far). (This should definitely be included in the WerteUnion brochure).
We read extensive quotes from an interview with Alexander Wallasch [a critical German journalist]. We read individual tweets, including this pointed sentence: »Unlike their ancestors, today’s Nazis are so stupid that they don’t even realize they’re Nazis.«
Who would disagree with that?
Alas, alas
Isn’t it amazing how much manpower and taxpayers’ money the oh-so-democratic domestic intelligence service spends sifting through the tweets of political opponents to see if anything “juicy“ can be found in them — but when it comes to Mr. Scholz’s memory lapses or the question of who blew up Nord Stream 2, alas, alas, there’s no time for that.
The note on August 10, 2023 is extra elegant. It simply states that Maaßen gave “a speech on the topic of ‘democracy’” and that he subsequently published it on YouTube. No content, that’s all.
Is a country in which the domestic intelligence service makes a special note in your digital file under the keyword “right-wing extremist” that you have spoken about “democracy” such a democracy?
To be a democrat today means to be listed as “right-wing extremist” by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
As you know, if a citizen becomes insubordinate, he is quickly deemed a right-wing extremist. [and because it rhymes so well in German, here it is again in the original: »Wird der Bürger unbequem, gilt er schnell als rechtsextrem.«]
But being “insubordinate” is the very essence and hallmark of every true democrat!
We know forms of government that prefer all their citizens to be “subordinate”, and we don’t call those “democracies”.
We also know those fellow citizens who want to be “obedient” and shout “We are more” on the streets — and “democrats” is not the word I would use for these “subordinates”.
Something very strange about it
I am a democrat. I believe in the right of a people to determine their own destiny in free elections. And therefore: Hello, Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, if you are recording this, please also record that I greet all future readers of my file. And then watch the movie “Inception”.
By the way, in this movie the main character says: »Dreams feel real as long as we are in the dream. Only when we wake up do we realize that something was very strange about it.«
Well, today feels like a strange dream, fragments of old times, and yet it is hard-hitting reality. There is no waking up unless we shake ourselves awake.
It has been apparent for some time that Germany is leaving the values of democracy behind and how. The fact that the [former] Chancellor [Merkel] declared the result of the election in Thuringia to be “unforgivable” made me wonder even then whether the country could still call itself a “democracy”.
We now read daily reports that we are otherwise more familiar with from dictatorships, such as the police knocking on citizens’ doors and the public prosecutor’s office dragging you to court because you have sharply criticized the government (cicero.de, 1.2.2024) — with political jokes that are a rabbit’s fart compared to the salvos that the left launched against [former Chancellor] Helmut Kohl at the time.
No point in denying it
And yet: a growing proportion of Germans want a return to democratic conditions and are prepared to endure the repressive measures of the propaganda state to achieve this.
Anyone calling for democratic politics today is opposed by the government and authorities — and labeled as “undemocratic” in an Orwellian reversal of meaning.
Or will Germany become a totalitarian dictatorship again?
Well, there is no point in denying totalitarian elements even today. For example, the bombardment of citizens with propaganda.
Indoctrination and bringing children into line in schools. The marching of these children for the government and against the opposition (wdr.de, 20.1.2024). (It’s so absurd: in communist China, children learn math and programming, while in democratic Germany they take part in demonstrations against the opposition instead of going to class).
And then, specifically, the – so it seems – misuse of the secret service as a weapon against political opponents. And on top of all this, the discrimination against and planned ban on the democratic opposition.
On the edge
Today, Germany is once again balancing on the edge of unsightly conditions – and it is wobbling more than some stomachs can handle.
One important difference to earlier experiments with totalitarianism, however, is that there are still Germans living today with very vivid “dictatorship experience” — and they are getting extra loud. (For which, of course, they are called “right-wing extremist” — the term has become vacuous).
Will Germany shake off its totalitarian ways in time and return to full democracy?
I don’t know.
But I know that it has been clear since January 31, 2024: Anyone who does not stand as a democrat today against this anti-democratic government, against these dangerous authorities and against this openly anti-German propaganda apparatus is on the side that we learned in history lessons is the evil side.
***
This essay was first published in German on February 1, 2024 on Dushan Wegner's blog.