German interior minister bans far‑right magazine "Compact"

As reported by the ministry in a statement cited by DPA, searches were conducted early Tuesday morning at locations associated with Conspect Film GmbH, as well as the homes of its management and shareholders in Brandenburg, Hesse, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt.

The raid aimed to confiscate assets and evidence. Among the searched properties was a house in Falkensee, Brandenburg, whose address appears in the magazine's footer.

Justifying the publication ban of "Compact," Faeser stated that the magazine is "the main mouthpiece of the far-right extremist scene" and also "incites hatred against Jews, people of migrant origin, and German parliamentary democracy."

As early as 2022, German counterintelligence, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), determined that the magazine led by Juergen Elsaesser "as a multimedia company introduces anti-democratic and human dignity-violating positions into society," and the leading representatives of the newspaper maintain contacts with key figures of the so-called New Right.

In the newspaper's online store, one can purchase, among other things, a coin featuring the likeness of Bjoern Hoecke, the chairman of the far-right party AfD in Thuringia. DPA reported that Elsaesser voices pro-Russian slogans at organized events.

As the "Der Spiegel" weekly portal reminded me, apart from the magazine, whose monthly circulation recently reached 40,000 copies, "Compact" runs a YouTube channel with nearly 350,000 subscribers. According to "Spiegel" information, it too was banned, as was the subsidiary Conspect Film GmbH, run by Elsaesser's wife Stephanie.

"Der Spiegel" wrote that "Compact" can no longer run channels on Facebook, X, Telegram, and other social media platforms, and newsstands can no longer sell this far-right magazine.