BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s top security official banned a far-right magazine on Tuesday, accusing it of inciting hatred against Jews, people with immigrant roots and parliamentary democracy.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser banned the magazine Compact and its publisher, Compact-Magazin GmbH, as well as a film production company, Conspect Film. Police raided properties and apartments in four German regions linked to the organizations, their management and shareholders, her ministry said.
Faeser described Compact as “a central mouthpiece of the far-right scene.” She said in a statement that “this magazine acts in an indescribable way against Jews, against people with a migration history and against our parliamentary democracy.”
“Our signal is clear: We will not allow who belongs in Germany and who does not to be defined on the basis of ethnicity,” Faeser added.
Compact is run by far-right figure Jürgen Elsässer and produces a monthly magazine of the same name, which has a circulation of around 40,000, and an online video channel, Compact TV. The company also runs an online shop selling books, CDs, DVDs and other merchandise.
Compact has been published since 2010. In its 2023 annual report, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said it “regularly … disseminates anti-Semitic, anti-minority, historically revisionist and conspiracy theory content.”
It said a key feature is the agitation against parliamentary democracy in general and the German government in particular, quoting Elsässer as saying on Compact’s homepage last year that “we want to overthrow this regime.”
The power of the far right has ensured that increasing concern in Germany in recent months.
Last month there was far right Alternative for Germany party won 15.9% of the votes, finishing second in the European Parliament electionsdespite recent scandals and setbacks.
The co-leaders Party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla called the ban on Compact “a serious blow to press freedom.” They claimed that Faeser “is abusing her authority to suppress critical reporting.”
