Wannsee 2.0: State intrigue against the right
Germany is witnessing a major political diversionary manoeuvre: why should the government also concern itself with the economic recession that it is itself trying to conceal by manipulating the figures? Why should it concern itself with the farmers, doctors and pharmacists who are protesting, or the train drivers, pilots, teachers and commercial workers who are on strike? Why should it seriously reconsider its position on the Ukrainian question or the Gaza conflict? Why should it stop the mad energy turn before it's too late? Why finally put some order into a national budget that is going completely off course? No, Germany is loudly "outraged against the right", with huge demonstrations across the country. This is supported not only openly by Olaf Scholz and Annalena Baerbock, but also by the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, an outspoken critic of the AfD. In the "Wannsee 2.0" affair, this Office is playing a dubious role. There are strong suspicions that confidential information was passed on to the media. The aim is to influence the elections to the European Parliament and the regional elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg!
Next Sunday, various organisations, initiatives and groups are calling for another rally "for democracy and against right-wing extremism" in Munich.[1] This is just one of the many "anti-right-wing" demonstrations taking place across Germany these days. What some are describing as democracy's finest hour, or a bulwark against fascism, others see as a wave of state-orchestrated hysteria, moral outrage commanded with the help of social networks.
Next Sunday, various organisations, initiatives and groups are calling for another rally "for democracy and against right-wing extremism" in Munich.[1] This is just one of the many "anti-right-wing" demonstrations taking place across Germany these days. What some are describing as democracy's finest hour, or a bulwark against fascism, others see as a wave of state-orchestrated hysteria, moral outrage commanded with the help of social networks.
The historian Peter Graf Kielmansegg declared earlier this week in the Swiss NZZ:
The good Germans celebrated a high mass of self-righteousness; in other words, they congratulated themselves on their righteous indignation towards the others, the bad Germans.[2]
The good Germans celebrated a high mass of self-righteousness; in other words, they congratulated themselves on their righteous indignation towards the others, the bad Germans.[2]
Let's briefly recall that in January, the Correctiv media platform revealed a so-called master plan for remigration that was allegedly discussed at a "secret meeting" of conservative politicians and entrepreneurs in November 2023 in Potsdam. The report is now available in English.[3] The affair, known in the meantime as "Wannsee 2.0", has since dominated political debates and media formats - hundreds of thousands of people are said to have taken part in demonstrations "against the right".
The degree of mobilisation at these demonstrations is indeed considerable. But a closer look reveals a motley conglomeration of supporters of the Scholz government, the "Fridays for Future" movement, the ver.di trade union and the German Trade Union Confederation.[4] But there are other players mobilising behind the scenes for the parades: the Hand in Hand network,[5] headed by Maximilian Oehl, a lawyer, social entrepreneur and founder of the first Refugee Law Clinic (RLC). Since 2022, Oehl has been a fellow member of the Ashoka Foundation.[6] Its founder, Bill Drayton, first worked for McKinsey & Company, then for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)[7]
Christoph Bautz, a biologist and co-founder and director of the Campact organisation, also has great potential for mobilisation. In 2023, his network organised several campaigns against the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party. [8] [9]
Controlled mass excitement
The demonstrators enjoy widespread support from the state media, who make no secret of their "anti-Right" stance. In keeping with the overheated social mood, the latest ARD-Deutschlandtrend [10] poll found that 39% of those questioned considered right-wing extremism and populism to be the greatest danger to democracy. 66% reportedly said they considered the AfD to be extreme right-wing. Nonetheless, 51% of those questioned were against initiating proceedings to ban the AfD. [11]
But is it really just the AfD, the party that won 10.3% of the vote in the last federal elections and 83 seats in the 20th German Bundestag? The party that is currently represented in 14 of the 16 regional parliaments with a total of 249 MPs, but which has no minister-president and is not represented in any government?
Historian Kielsmansegg:
The slogan "against the right" was omnipresent in the demonstrations these days, in various forms. Even the Chancellor called on Germans to cast a clear vote "against the right". The necessary confrontation with the AfD, it is said, is being used to delegitimise a whole segment of conceptions, convictions, values and lifestyles. But without this part of public life and participation in it, a free society is no longer a free society[12]
The slogan "against the right" was omnipresent in the demonstrations these days, in various forms. Even the Chancellor called on Germans to cast a clear vote "against the right". The necessary confrontation with the AfD, it is said, is being used to delegitimise a whole segment of conceptions, convictions, values and lifestyles. But without this part of public life and participation in it, a free society is no longer a free society[12]
Those who stir up the masses also include public authorities. The head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, is known to be a critic of the AfD. After the Correctiv revelations, he publicly expressed the hope that the "silent majority of the population would take a clear stand against extremism and anti-Semitism".[13] His role, or rather that of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, in the "Wannsee 2.0" affair is more than dubious. Recently, the Federal Office has even been suspected of providing information to the media in order to create public pressure against the AfD and other parties on the conservative right.
There are several indications that this rumour is not entirely fanciful: firstly, the Swiss NZZ recently published an article in which Haldenwang's Federal Office refutes the claim that it was behind the report on the "secret meeting" in Potsdam.[14]
Secondly, the owner of the Landhaus Adlon, where the "secret meeting" is said to have taken place, has meanwhile spoken out in the NZZ and refuted the claim that a secret remigration plan was discussed.[15]
Thirdly, at the Bundestag sitting on 17 January 2024, André Hahn, a non-attached Member of Parliament, put the following completely open-ended question to Mahmut Özdemir, Secretary of State in the Ministry of the Interior:
What knowledge does the Federal Government have of "Correctiv"'s research into a secret meeting allegedly held in November 2023 in Potsdam and attended by AfD officials, major potential donors and representatives of the far-right identity movement?
The Secretary of State refused to give an explanation (significant):
For example, the answer to the question of whether and when the Federal Government and the authorities subordinate to it had information about the concrete event mentioned may allow conclusions to be drawn about the state of knowledge of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and, where appropriate, about the methods and modes of work of the intelligence services, which, as a result of corresponding defence strategies, permanently jeopardises the future acquisition of knowledge by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution or, in some cases, even makes it impossible (page 18597).[16]
For example, the answer to the question of whether and when the Federal Government and the authorities subordinate to it had information about the concrete event mentioned may allow conclusions to be drawn about the state of knowledge of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and, where appropriate, about the methods and modes of work of the intelligence services, which, as a result of corresponding defence strategies, permanently jeopardises the future acquisition of knowledge by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution or, in some cases, even makes it impossible (page 18597).[16]
The reason why the Secretary of State himself linked the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution to Correctiv's research has since come in for a great deal of criticism.
A new work of destruction
German journalist Roland Tichy has taken up the issue with his media platform. Little by little, he is trying to shed light on the nooks and crannies that the state media keep in the dark:
It's true that the national secret services are tasked with obtaining information. But what about influencing elections? To target certain parties and carry out public relations work to influence voters by mobilising public opinion? Here, state bodies become service providers for the parties. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is overstepping its remit here.[17]
German journalist Roland Tichy has taken up the issue with his media platform. Little by little, he is trying to shed light on the nooks and crannies that the state media keep in the dark:
It's true that the national secret services are tasked with obtaining information. But what about influencing elections? To target certain parties and carry out public relations work to influence voters by mobilising public opinion? Here, state bodies become service providers for the parties. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is overstepping its remit here.[17]
What can we conclude from all this?
What is currently happening in Germany is more than just a big show designed to distract attention from the Scholz government's problems.
It is more than a new division of society, widely supported by the media.
Under the banner of "saving democracy", part of democracy is being buried in Germany:
The free competition of political forces, which must constantly strive to win the favour of voters, as well as the possibility of dismissing governments by giving one's vote to other political forces.
The free competition of political forces, which must constantly strive to win the favour of voters, as well as the possibility of dismissing governments by giving one's vote to other political forces.
What the promoters of this unfortunate development fail to recognise, however, is that by organising demonstrations "against the right", they are ultimately reaching across the entire conservative spectrum.
What they don't realise is that the majority of people with a migrant background are staying out of this political battle and, at best, watching Germany seriously damage itself.
They do not realise that authoritarian methods, such as eliminating the opposition through espionage and criminalisation, can only take effect when the opponent is totally destroyed.
If the adversary is not destroyed, and it is to be expected that it will be, the adversary will, if it wins, turn the instruments of authoritarian power against those who are now posing as judges of a just and good cause.
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[3] https://correctiv.org/en/top-stories/2024/01/15/secret-plan-against-germany/
[4] https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/demonstrationen-gegen-rechtsextremismus-100.html
[5] https://wirfuerdemokratie.org/hand-in-hand/
[6] https://www.ashoka.org/en-us
[8] https://aktion.campact.de/weact/hocke-stoppen/teilnehmen
[9] https://aktion.campact.de/rechtsextremismus/afd-verbot/teilnehmen
[10] https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/deutschlandtrend
[11] https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/deutschlandtrend/deutschlandtrend-3414.html
[16] https://dserver.bundestag.de/btp/20/20146.pdf
[17] https://mailchi.mp/tichyseinblick/05022024?e=3a31a15149