The former president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) Hans-Georg Maaßen is apparently classified as a right-wing extremist by his own former authority. This is the conclusion of joint research by the ARD political magazine In contrast and the news portal T-online result. “Maaßen is therefore also an object of observation for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution,” it says Message. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution has an “extensive collection of material” on her former boss.
Maaßen, who wants to transform his ValuesUnion association into a new right-wing conservative party in the coming months, published On platform “The federal government is obviously afraid of me and the Values Union, so they have me observed and pursued by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution,” Maaßen wrote. It is an “abuse of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to combat political opponents.”
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Left-wing politician calls for committee of inquiry
Last August the reported Bildnewspaper, the BfV has requested data on Maaßen from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). Maaßen then announced that he would request information about what data about him would now be stored at the BfV. It is unclear whether they are congruent with the collection of materials listed in the letter published by Maaßen. It contains, for example, Maaßen’s anti-immigrant statements on migration policy. According to that daily Newsreport, Maaßen left a media query unanswered.
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According to research, members of the Bundestag were informed about the storage as a right-wing extremist in a secret meeting. Maaßen has been aware of the incident for a few days. The BfV did not initially comment on it: “The BfV does not comment on individuals due to the protection of personal rights,” said a spokeswoman for the authority. She referred to the possibility of those affected to request information about the data stored.
Domestic politician Martina Renner called for clarification on Maaßen’s role as President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which he headed from 2012 to 2018. A Bundestag investigative committee must “examine his activities during his period of service,” said the left-wing Bundestag member. On platform X designated She describes Maaßen as a “right-wing extremist, enemy of the constitution, conspiracy apologist”.
Maaßen sees the CDU as “socialist” and wants talks with the AfD
Maaßen was retired in 2018 because of controversial statements about attacks on migrants in Chemnitz and the asylum policy of the then federal government. The CDU, of which he was a member until recently, accused him in a statement from the party leadership of “language from the milieu of anti-Semites and conspiracy ideologists, including ethnic expressions.” Maaßen initially did not comply with a demand from the party leadership to leave the CDU, but in February 2023 the CDU federal executive committee decided to initiate expulsion proceedings against him. However, a party court rejected this last July.
Last Thursday, Maaßen finally resigned from the party himself. In a letter addressed to party leader Friedrich Merz, he accused the CDU of “betraying classic values” and that the party was “a variant of the socialist parties and not an alternative to them.” As a future member and presumed chairman of a new party that the Values Union is supposed to transform into, Maaßen is no longer likely to belong to the CDU anyway. Maaßen did not explicitly rule out collaboration between the new party and the AfD. He also announced that he wanted to talk to Sahra Wagenknecht’s new party BSW.