Germany megathread

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/europe/german-special-forces-dissolved-right-wing-intl/index.html

An elite German military unit which reportedly had a number of extreme right-wing members will be disbanded, a source told CNN on Tuesday.


"The Second Commando Company of the KSK will be dissolved," the source said, asking not to be named ahead of an announcement Wednesday.

The KSK is the unified command for German Army special forces -- designed in the 1990s to be the equivalent of US Special Operations Command, according Janes, a defense analysis firm.

The unit has around 1,400 soldiers who embark on operations such anti-terror campaigns and hostage situations, according to the AFP news agency.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-brothels-idUSKCN24D09U

Prostitutes demonstrated in Hamburg’s red light district late on Saturday evening demanding that Germany’s brothels be allowed to reopen after months of closure to curb the spread of coronavirus.

With shops, restaurants and bars all open again in Germany, where prostitution is legal, sex workers say they are being singled out and deprived of their livelihoods despite not posing a greater health risk.

[NewYorkExpress]

So I just went to observe to big, fat anti-COVID restrictions protest in Berlin. My primary take-aways from there:

- There was a lot of flag-waving going around. The most commonly seen flag seemed in fact to be the Black-White-Red flag of the German empire (1871-1918), also a widely used symbol of full-on neo-Nazis because the Swastika flag itself is outlawed around here, while the Black-White-Red had also been been used as Germany's official flag in concurrence with the Swastika for a transitional period between 1933 and 1935. The apparent ubiquity of that flag today surprised even me a bit. Didn't actually expect everything to be that right-wing.

- The second most commonly seen flag at the protests seemed to be the state flag of the Russian Federation. Go figure. This also included a guy with a Vladimir Putin t-shirt I had seen walking around.

- The third most common symbol was the "Q". Some people who had arrived to the protests in their car had the habit of donning a big, white "Q" symbol on their vehicles. There were even some comibinations with aforementioned symbols, for instance I also saw a woman protestor wearing a t-shirt with a big "Q" in the Black-White-Red colours of the empire.

- A few Trump fans were also waving an American flag, often in conurrence with the Russian flag or even the Black-White-Red one. In Germany, the Stars and Stripes seem to be increasingly becoming a symbol carried by Nazis as a result of the presidency of Donald Trump. But maybe this would change again with a Biden win in November.

- Another notable aspect was that there seemed to be significant age gap between protestors and counter-protestors. While anti-Corona restrictions protestors had an average age of about 50, pro-restrictions counter-protestors were more about 30. This seems to be line with the fact that Pegida and AfD in Germany as well as Trumpism in America is in large parts a rebellion of middle-aged white people against the system. Another feature distinguishing protestors and counter-protestors was that the former group was often mask-less, while the latter group usually wore a mask.

- I happened to come by at a corner were anti-Corona restrictions protestors and the Antifa was almost directly faced against each other. The mood was pretty aggressive there and I sometimes expected a brawl to start any second. But in the end, it limited itself to mutual shouting, insulting, and name-calling.


UPDATE: And I just read in the news that the police has officially dispersed the protests due to non-compliance with phyiscal distancing rules.

Demonstrations in Berlin continue to a degree, but I'm glad the police has stepped in. The court should never have ruled to allow the demonstration in the first place given in what kind of situation we find ourselves in. Many of the protesters are AfD-hacks and other deluded folks anyway. The most hilarious thing is these people complaining about "dictatorship" now. They have no clue what a dictatorship is actually like.

Well, I certainly get the point that banning such protests would only help to embolden them and radicalize them further. And of course, at this point this could very well be the strategy of right-wing extremists: Deliberately not wearing any masks and not keeping distance to fellow protestors so that such protests get banned and so that they can point out how awfully authoritarian everything has become.

However, I do agree that seeing a large-scale (40,000 people?) protest march against a alleged "Corona dictatorship" which primarily dons the flag of the old German empire and of Russia definitely exhibits a certain amount of cognitive dissonance and/or hypocrisy.

^^

Since this ongoing story from the international COVID thread is increasingly about right-wing extremism in Germany rather than the coronavirus pandemic itself, I decided to outsource it and continue with it in this thread here. Probably makes more sense.

Anway, later this evening at least a couple of dozen COVID restriction protestors, waving Black-White-Red flags from the Imperial era, broke through barricades in front the Reichstag and atttempted to storm the entrance of the German parliament, throwing rocks and bottles at nearby police officers. The protestors were eventually repelled by the police, using pepper spray.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, this is now the top story in Germany and possibly also the moment where the protests are ultimately backfiring on the protestors, since they went a bit too far for their own good.

As I indicated in the beginning, the narrative is now not about COVID restrictions any longer, but about violent neo-Nazis and how neo-Nazis have effectively taken over and assimilated the anti-restrictions movement.

Eventually, either Merkel or one of her successors are going to have to make the decision to ban AfD.

They literally are Germany's new Nazi Party.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54174393

Twenty-nine German police officers have been suspended for sharing pictures of Adolf Hitler and depictions of refugees in gas chambers on their phones.

The officers also used far-right chatrooms where swastikas and other Nazi symbols were shared, officials in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) said.

NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul said it was a "disgrace for NRW police".

It follows several other incidences of far-right extremism among the German security services.

More than 200 police officers were involved in raids on 34 police stations and private homes linked to 11 main suspects. The officers are said to have shared more than 100 neo-Nazi images in WhatsApp groups.

Some of the suspects face charges of spreading Nazi propaganda and hate speech. Others are accused of not reporting their colleagues' actions.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54204356

German police have launched a homicide investigation after a woman died during a cyber-attack on a hospital.

Hackers disabled computer systems at Düsseldorf University Hospital and the patient died while doctors attempted to transfer her to another hospital.

Cologne prosecutors officially launched a negligent homicide case this morning saying hackers could be blamed.

One expert said, if confirmed, it would be the first known case of a life being lost as a result of a hack.

The ransomware attack hit the hospital on the night of 9 September, scrambling data and making computer systems inoperable.
.....

The female patient, from Düsseldorf, was due to have scheduled life-saving treatment and was transferred to another hospital in Wuppertal which is roughly 19 miles (30km) away.

Some local reports suggest the hackers did not intend to attack the hospital and in fact were trying to target a different university. Once the hackers had realised their mistake it is reported they gave the hospital the decryption key without demanding payment before disappearing.

I'm not an expert on German law, but if it can proven that the hackers are responsible for this patient's death, then what law might apply, and what would the appropriate sentence be?

[NewYorkExpress]

https://in.reuters.com/article/us-germany-military-farright/germany-replaces-military-intelligence-boss-after-far-right-scandals-idUSKCN26F2ZJ

Germany’s defence minister will replace the head of the military intelligence agency (MAD), her ministry said on Thursday, a move indicating she wants to do more to root out right-wing radicals from the armed forces.

MAD chief Christof Gramm had begun reforms to combat right-wing extremism in the military and achieved noticeable improvements, the ministry said in a statement, adding, however, that further progress was needed and this required more effort.

“This new phase should also be made visible in terms of personnel,” the statement said.




By mutual consent, Gramm is to be relieved of his duties next month, and will take early retirement, the defence ministry said, adding that a successor would be chosen soon.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/berlin-tourism-ad-woman-middle-finger-pulled

It certainly gets the point across, does it not?


A recent series of advertisements launched by the city of Berlin’s tourism department has ruffled a few feathers — and critics are pointing the finger at one ad, in particular.



"The raised index finger for all those without a mask,” reads the ad, which also features an image of a woman brandishing her middle finger. “We obey the corona rules.”

In response, Visit Berlin has reportedly pulled the ad from its larger “Berlin Gegen Corona” (“Berlin Against Corona”) campaign currently appearing across the city.



Visit Berlin, the official tourism website of Germany's capital city, had released the campaign in September along with a series of public service announcements aimed at encouraging tourists and locals to wear masks amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The campaign’s message, which has also been approved by the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, also specifically targeted restaurateurs and bar owners, who are currently subject to a number of coronavirus regulations regarding capacity, spacing and hours of operation.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://thehill.com/policy/international/europe/525854-eleven-german-men-charged-with-far-right-plot-to-attack-muslims

Prosecutors on Friday charged 11 German men from a far-right terror group with planning deadly attacks on Muslims and plotting to overthrow the German government.

According to The Associated Press, federal prosecutors alleged that eight of the men formed the “Group S” organization during a meeting in September 2019.

Three others are accused of joining the group later. A 12th person was also charged with supporting the group.


Prosecutors also reportedly charged seven of the suspects with weapons violations in Stuttgart state court.

The AP reported that the suspects, who were listed without last names due to German privacy laws, wanted to “shake the state and the social order” in Germany and eventually create “conditions similar to civil war” by attacking mosques and killing or injuring as many Muslims as possible.

The group also allegedly hoped to lead a government coup, as well as use force against political opponents.

[NewYorkExpress]

Germany will now require companies with at least three members of a Board of Directors, to appoint a woman to the board.

Germany's coalition government has agreed to a mandatory quota for women on the boards of listed companies in what's being hailed as a landmark moment for Europe's biggest economy.

Listed companies with management boards of more than three executives must appoint at least one woman to the C-suite, according to a statement Friday by Germany's ministry for family affairs, senior citizens, women and youth. A final decision on the new measure is expected next week.

"We are putting an end to women-free boardrooms at large companies," said Franziska Giffey, the minister for women and families, who described the decision as a "historic breakthrough."

[NewYorkExpress]

Heiko Maas calls out anti-mask protesters who comapre themselves to victims of the Nazis.

German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, on Sunday lashed out at anti-mask protesters comparing themselves to Nazi victims, accusing them of trivialising the Holocaust and “making a mockery” of the courage shown by resistance fighters.

The harsh words came after a young woman took to the stage at a protest against coronavirus restrictions in Hanover on Saturday saying she felt “just like Sophie Scholl”, the German student executed by the Nazis in 1943 for her role in the resistance.

A video of the speech has already been viewed more than 1m times on social media, with many sharply condemning the speaker.

 German anti-mask protester compares herself to Sophie Scholl during speech – video
“Anyone today comparing themselves to Sophie Scholl or Anne Frank is making a mockery of the courage it took to stand up to the Nazis,” Maas tweeted.

[NewYorkExpress]

Germany is stripping words linked to the Nazis from their phonetic alphabet

Germany is restoring Jewish names that Nazis stripped from its phonetic alphabet more than 75 years ago.

Adolf Hitler changed the alphabet in 1934, a year after he ascended to power — subbing, for example, Dora for the letter D instead of David and Nordpol (North Pole) for the letter N instead of Nathan, the German wesbsite DW reported.

Only a handful of countries have their own version; most rely on the well-known NATO version — “a is for alpha,” “b is for bravo” and so on.

[NewYorkExpress]

Austrian police have seized guns destined for the far-right in Germany.

The Austrian police have seized a huge cache of automatic weapons, explosives and hand grenades intended to arm far-right “extremist” groups in Germany.

Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said on Saturday five men aged 21 to 53 with links to neo-Nazi groups were arrested following a series of house searches.

“We have struck a massive blow against the right-wing extremist scene in Austria and organised crime, and how they are connected,” Nehammer told a news conference in the capital, Vienna.

The weapons were to be used to “establish a far-right network” in Germany with the goal of attacking society, democracy and basic freedoms, Nehammer said.

The raids were carried out as part of an investigation initially into a drug-related crime, but officers also uncovered links between far-right groups and organised crime, the minister said.

[NewYorkExpress]

A contractor working on the Bundestag has been charged with passing the floor plans of the Reichstag to Russian Intelligence.

A German man has been charged with espionage for allegedly passing information on properties used by the German parliament to Russian military intelligence, prosecutors said Thursday.

The suspect, identified only as Jens F. in line with German privacy rules, worked for a company that had been repeatedly contracted to check portable electrical appliances by the Bundestag, or the lower house of parliament, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

As a result of that, he had access to PDF files with floor plans of the properties involved. The Bundestag is based in the Reichstag building, a Berlin landmark, but also uses several other sites.



Prosecutors said, at some point before early September 2017, the suspect “decided of his own accord” to give information on the properties to Russian intelligence. They said he sent the PDF files to an employee of the Russian Embassy in Berlin who was an officer with Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency.

They didn’t specify how his activities came to light.

The charges against the suspect, who is not in custody, were filed at a Berlin court on Feb. 12. The court will have to decide whether to go ahead with a trial.

[NewYorkExpress]

Angela Merkel says she won't take AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine because she's too old.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she won't take AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine because she's too old.

The pace of Europe's vaccine rollout has slowed behind that of the United Kingdom. People have reportedly refused to take AstraZeneca's vaccine after European leaders cast doubt on its effectiveness.

Merkel, who is 66, was asked by the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine whether she would receive a dose of AstraZeneca's vaccine to counter a perception in Europe that the vaccine is ineffective.

The chancellor said she would not get the vaccine because it had not been approved for people over 65 in Germany. "I am 66 years old and do not belong to the recommended group for AstraZeneca," she told the paper.


Recent trials in Scotland have linked AstraZeneca's vaccine with a dramatic drop in the risk of hospitalization among older people.

More than 1.4 million doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine are sitting in storage in Germany, while healthcare workers have administered only 240,000 doses, Thomas Mertens, who chairs Germany's standing commission on vaccines, said this week, the New Scientist reported.

[NewYorkExpress]

German Intelligence has placed the AfD Party under surveillence for extremism.

For the first time in its postwar history, Germany has placed its main opposition party under surveillance, one of the most dramatic steps yet by a Western democracy to protect itself from the onslaught of far-right forces that have upset politics from Europe to the United States.

The decision by the domestic intelligence agency will now allow it to tap phones and other communications and monitor the movements of members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which not only sits in the Federal Parliament but has become entrenched at all levels of politics in nearly every part of the nation.

It is among the most sweeping efforts yet to deal with the rise of far-right and neo-Nazi political movements within Western democracies, which are attempting more vigorously to constrain, ostracize or even legally prosecute those elements to prevent them from chipping away at the foundations of democratic institutions.

News of the move came on the same day that France banned Generation Identity, a militant youth movement considered dangerous for its slick rebranding of neo-Nazi concepts, and as lawmakers in the European Parliament in Brussels forced the party of Hungary’s semi-authoritarian leader Viktor Orban out of the mainstream conservative group.


It also follows the impeachment hearing in Washington of former President Donald J. Trump over accusations that he incited the violent mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, as well as rising concerns among Democrats and even U.S. law enforcement agencies about links between some Republican Party members and extremist or conspiracy groups like QAnon.

For Germany, the question of how to deal with the far right has particular urgency in an election year that will see Angela Merkel step down after 16 years as chancellor, a tenure in which she became a symbol of a Germany that has learned from its Nazi past and opened itself to refugees seeking shelter from conflict and persecution.

[NewYorkExpress]

The Administrative Court of Cologne suspended the surviellence of the AfD Party.

A German court on Friday suspended the right of the country’s domestic intelligence agency to conduct surveillance of the Alternative for Germany, the leading opposition in Parliament, pending the outcome of a legal challenge by the far-right party.

The ruling, made by the Administrative Court of Cologne, came two days after news leaked to the media that the intelligence service had decided to investigate the party, known by its German initials AfD, on suspicion of being a threat to democracy, based on its anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim expressions and members who have been dismissive of Germany’s crimes under the Nazis.

The move to classify the group as extremist and in need of observation by the intelligence services serves as a strong example of the lengths that a Western democracy is willing to go to defend its system against the threat of right-wing forces that have gained in popularity in the United States and Europe.

But the court ruling on Friday underscored a particular quandary in Germany between the need to protect against threats to the state while safeguarding civil liberties. Because of its Nazi past, Germany has both aggressive measures to fortify the Constitution as well as tough protections for its citizens against state intrusion.


The legal challenges filed by the AfD against its surveillance are testing that balance.

Although the intelligence office, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, known by its German initials BfV, had declined to comment on the leak on Wednesday, the court found that it violated a confidentiality agreement and jeopardized the party’s guarantee to equal opportunity.

In its ruling, the court revoked the intelligence agency’s right to take further action against the party, or to publicly discuss its consideration of taking action against the party, until a final ruling is handed down in a lawsuit the party has filed to prevent the government from classifying it, or its members, as extremist.

The court stressed that Friday’s decision would not influence the outcome of the AfD lawsuit, which is still being considered. It is not clear when a ruling may come.

[NewYorkExpress]

Bundestag members Nikolas Lobel and Georg Nusslein have resigned as a result of a mask procurement scandal.

Two MPs in Germany’s ruling CDU party were forced to resign over the weekend after it emerged that they personally profited from various government deals to secure coronavirus face masks.

It comes ahead of two regional elections on Sunday in the western states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, which are considered vital by many to assess support for Angela Merkel’s successor Armin Laschet who was voted leader of the CDU in January.

Nikolas Löbel announced on Sunday that he was retiring from politics altogether after a company he owned was found to have made €250,000 (£214,305) by brokering procurement deals of face coverings for local authorities in Baden-Württemberg.

He released a statement to say he was leaving the CDU/CSU parliamentary group with “immediate effect”, and that he would not run again for parliament elections.

“To be a member of the German Bundestag and be able to represent my home town Mannheim is a great honour and an especially moral obligation,” he wrote in a statement. “With my actions I have failed to live up to these standards. For that I would like to apologise to everyone in this country.”

“All of us – politicians on the federal, regional and municipal level – are doing all we can at the moment to bring this country through the crisis and protect people,” he told German broadcaster ARD on Sunday.


“And whoever does business with this protection, and who personally enriches himself from that, is no representative of the people. And he must leave parliament at once.”

Another conservative member of parliament, the CSU’s Georg Nuesslein, resigned on Friday from his post as one of the deputy leaders of current chancellor Ms Merkel’s parliamentary group, over similar allegations. The CSU is the CDU’s Bavarian sister party.

[NewYorkExpress]

The tactical police in Frankfurt are being disbanded, after the discovery of far-right extremist messages in group chats.

Police from the central German city of Frankfurt am Main have decided to disband the city's Special Task Force (SEK) following the discovery of far-right extremist messages in group chats, a state official said on Thursday.

Interior Minister for the state of Hesse Peter Beuth said that "unacceptable misconduct" by certain members of the SEK made the dissolution of the unit "unavoidable."

A group of experts will organize a restructuring of the SEK, Beuth added. "We are launching a fundamental reboot of the SEK today," he said.

He called for a completely new leadership culture among the middle and lower levels of the police force.

"Of course our special forces will also be vital in the future, but the parameters will be different," the interior minister said.

The move followed an announcement by the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office, as well as the Hessian State Criminal Police Office on Wednesday that they had ongoing investigations into 20 active and former SEK officers suspected of participating in right-wing extremist chat groups.

Seventeen Hesse officers were suspected of spreading hatred-inciting texts and symbols of former Nazi organizations — outlawed under post-war German law, said prosecutors — mainly in 2016 and 2017.

Aged between 29 and 54, all but one officer had been on active duty. Now, none were now allowed to perform duties, Frankfurt police chief Gerhard Bereswill explained on Wednesday. One had already been suspended.

The revelations "make the suspicion of right-wing extremist tendencies of some members of the Frankfurt SEK clear," Beuth said on Thursday.

[NewYorkExpress]

Gernany has passed a law that allows for descendants of those stripped of citizenship by the Nazis to reclaim their citizenship.

German lawmakers have approved changes that will make it easier for descendants of those who fled Nazi persecution to obtain citizenship.

Under German law, people stripped of their citizenship on political, racial or religious grounds can have it restored, and so can their descendants.

But legal loopholes had prevented many people from benefiting.

.....

While Germany's post-war constitution allows citizenship to be restored, the lack of a legal framework meant many people had their applications rejected.

Some were denied because their ancestors had taken another nationality before their citizenship was revoked.

For others it was because they were born to a German mother, but not a German father. Until a change to the law in 1953, German citizenship could only be passed on paternally.

[NewYorkExpress]

A former spy for Germany's Secret Service was arrested on charges of spying for China.

German authorities arrested a former spy for Germany’s secret service on suspicions that he conducted “intelligence agent activities” for China, the federal prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.

According to a press release from the prosecutor’s office, the man — named only as Klaus L. — allegedly supplied the Chinese secret service with information for almost a decade, starting in 2010.

At the same time, however, he was an informant for the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND). German public broadcaster ARD reported that the man, now 75, provided the BND with information for 50 years, leading a “double life.”

[NewYorkExpress]

A court in Neuruppin has cleared a 100 year old Nazi concentration camp guard to stand trial.

A 100-year-old former concentration camp guard will stand trial in Germany in October accused of complicity in 3,518 murders, public prosecutors have announced.

The prosecutor’s office in Neuruppin, which first brought the charges in February, received a medical assessment that confirmed the man was “fit to stand trial” despite his advanced age.

Hearings will be limited to two and a half hours a day, according to prosecutors.

The suspect is accused of “knowingly and willingly” assisting in the murder of prisoners at the Sachsenhausen camp in Oranienburg, north of Berlin, between 1942 and 1945.


He is accused notably of complicity in the “execution by firing squad of Soviet prisoners of war in 1942” and the murder of prisoners “using the poisonous gas Zyklon B”.

Sadly, Germany does not have the Death Penalty.

[NewYorkExpress]

Happily, Germany does not have the Death Penalty.

There, fixed that for you. As with all other civilised countries in the world.

Whatever your stance on the death penalty, I believe that only good can come from executing Nazis.

[NewYorkExpress]

A worker at the British Embassy in Berlin was arrested on charges of spying for Russia

A British Embassy worker in Berlin suspected of spying for Russia was arrested Tuesday in connection with allegedly handing documents to Moscow.

In a statement released Wednesday, German prosecutors said the British national, identified only as David S., 57, was arrested by police over suspicions he handed documents to the Russian intelligence service in exchange for cash.

"On at least one occasion, he passed on documents he had obtained in the course of his professional activities to a representative of a Russian intelligence service," Germany's chief federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The prosecutor's office said the embassy worker, who has not been named in full due to German law, was arrested Tuesday in Potsdam, just outside Berlin.

The Briton's home and workplace were also searched as part of the investigation, it said.

Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics

His arrest was the product of joint investigations conducted by German and British authorities.

[NewYorkExpress]

Heiko Maas says Germany will send no foreign aid to Afghanistan if the Taliban tajes control there.

Germany will not provide any financial support to Afghanistan if the Taliban takes over power in the country and introduces Sharia law, its foreign minister told broadcaster ZDF on Thursday.

"We provide 430 million euros ($505 million) every year, we will not give another cent if the Taliban takes over the country and introduces Sharia law," Heiko Maas said.

[NewYorkExpress]

The result is currently tighter between SPD and the Union than polling had suggested, but SPD is leading. Linke is too small for a left coalition to form. My heart says traffic light coalition but my brain says that Jamaica is more likely than a lot of people think, especially with a Union still almost as large as SPD and no threat of Linke to dissuade FDP. SPD will have to sell the popularity of Scholz to FDP, and we'll have to see how committed the Greens are to a center-left government. GroKo also could be formed, but the dynamics of it in a nearly tied situation might be complicated.

Maybe a Grand Coalition with Scholz as the Chancellor?