German conservatives tell ex-spy chief to jump, or be pushed
January 30, 2023
Germany's CDU is hoping to rid itself of a former intelligence boss for allegedly repeating racist conspiracy theories. Hans-Georg Maassen was given a deadline to quit the conservative party.
Maassen has caused upset with his utterances since being relieved of duties as head of the BfV Image: Jens SchlueterAFP/Getty Images
After repeating a string of extremist conspiracy theories, Maassen has proved to be a source of embarrassment for the German conservatives. The CDU — which could face a lengthy and complicated process to have Maassen removed against his will — has now asked him to leave voluntarily.
Since then, he has become a vocal but marginal figure on the extreme right of the center-right party, which led Germany's coalition governments under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2021.
Maassen was deemed to have gone too far in a tweet he published in mid-January saying that "the driving forces in the political media sphere" was "eliminatory racism against whites."
He is also accused of repeating antisemitic tropes.
Hans-Georg Maassen: A controversial career
Germany's ex-spy chief Hans-Georg Maassen is no stranger to controversy. He has been accused of a number of improprieties throughout his career and is suspected by many of having sympathies with far-right ideology.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler
Shadowy figure
Hans-Georg Maassen, the former head of Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) — the domestic intelligence service — has often drawn fire for his remarks and actions.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Hirschberger
Trouble in the Interior Ministry
Maassen gained notoriety in 2002 while working for the German Interior Ministry and arguing that Murat Kurnaz, a German resident held in the US prison at Guantanamo for five years before being released, could not return to Germany because his residency had lapsed. Herta Däubler-Gmelin, who was justice minister at the time, called Maassen's argument, "false, appalling and inhumane."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Schmidt
Vows to restore trust
In 2012, Maassen was tapped to lead Germany's top spy agency. He promised to restore faith in the BfV, which was embroiled in controversy over its entanglement in the right-wing extremist scene and his predecessor's decision to destroy files related to the neo-Nazi NSU murders.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Pilick
First calls for firing
Maassen has been accused of having "a troubled relationship with basic democratic principles" for his pursuit of bloggers on grounds of treason and trying to suppress negative stories on the BfV. In January 2017, he told parliament reports the BfV had undercover agents in the Islamist scene connected to the Berlin Christmas market attack were false. Records showing it did became public in 2018.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Hirschberger
Sympathies for the right?
Before Maassen made headlines by questioning the veracity of videos of right-wing protesters chasing foreigners through the streets of Chemnitz, he was under fire for advising right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) on how to avoid scrutiny from his agency. He has also been accused of sharing confidential documents with the AfD before presenting them to the public.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
One faithful friend ...
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (r.) continued to support Maassen even after his controversial remarks over Chemnitz. Seehofer even took the ex-spy chief into the Interior Ministry in what was essentially a promotion. But that compromise has not been seen favorably by many in Germany, and failed to calm troubled waters within the ruling coalition over the affair.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B.v. Jutrczenka
Forced out of office
Maassen was finally forced into retirement in 2018 after he spoke about "radical left-wing elements" in the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the junior partner in the ruling coalition, who had, he said, seized gladly upon his controversial remarks to provoke divisions in the government. He also criticized Germany's policies on refugees and security as "naive and leftist."
Image: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/picture-alliance
Campaigning for the Bundestag
The Christian Democrat Union in one district in the eastern German state of Thuringia chose the controversial former intelligence chief to run in this year's parliamentary election. Some 86% of party members in the small region voted in favor of Maassen becoming the party's directly-elected candidate on the ballot. The move means he has a shot at entering Germany's parliament in September.
Referring to Maassen, a resolution from the CDU on Monday said that "there is no place in our party for his statements and the ideas they express."
"Again and again he uses the language from the milieu of antisemites and conspiracy ideologues," they said. "Dr. Maassen is obviously not interested in the welfare of the CDU. On the contrary, he constantly violates the principles and rules of the party."
The resolution said the 60-year-old should leave the party before a February 5 deadline or face "a party exclusion procedure and to withdraw his membership rights with immediate effect."
The statement also sought to distance the CDU from the Werte-Union, saying the two were incompatible.
"Each of its members must ask themselves where their political home is," it said.
"There is no need for a so-called Werte-Union, which according to the statutes stands outside of our organization anyway. Rather, the so-called Werte-Union and its ideas are less and less compatible with the values of the CDU."
rc/dj (dpa, Reuters, AP)
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