Recently banned German right-wing magazine Compact has been revived and rebranded as Näncy, in reference to Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who ordered the magazine to be shut down. While this effectively means that the ban has been successfully circumvented for now, the question remains whether the authorities will take legal action against the new publishers.
The founders of another government-critical, right-wing weekly, Demokratischer Widerstand took matters into their own hands by publishing the August issue of Compact—which could not be sold due to the ban—and repackaging it under the title Näncy. Founder and editor-in-chief of Compact Jürgen Elsässer said he did not participate in the rebranding of his magazine, but welcomed the move. “What Ms. Faeser wanted to ban cannot be banned,” he said.
The interior ministry, led by Social Democrat Nancy Faeser, banned the anti-establishment Compact magazine last month for “inciting hatred” and “aggressively propagating the toppling of the political order.” The ban also applies to Compact’s website, the company that publishes it, Compact-Magazin GmbH, and the associated film production company, Conspect Film. Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended the ban, saying there are “opinions that are forbidden in Germany.”
The ban was a clearly politicised move by the leftist-liberal government which has not been shy in trying to hunt down its critics, be it the anti-globalist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, or right-wing media outlets that harshly criticise the cabinet’s policies. Law experts have questioned whether the ban would hold up in the constitutional court, as the interior ministry had not presented any violation of criminal laws committed by Compact.
Editor-in-chief Jürgen Elsässer says the move to ban the publication without any legal grounds is a blow against press freedom. There have been no successful court cases brought against Compact that substantiate the interior ministry’s accusations of racism, antisemitism, or inciting violence. The magazine filed a lawsuit against the ban, and Elsässer said he hopes the court will reach a verdict in August. “From a legal point of view, we should win, but we don’t know how great the political pressure on the court is,” he posted on X.
The question also arises about whether authorities will deem Näncy a continuation of Compact, seeing as the publishers of Demokratischer Widerstand have said that it is the same content as the unpublished August issue of Compact. “Read here what you are not allowed to read,” they write on their website, advertising Näncy, which can be downloaded for €10. If investigators come to the conclusion that it is indeed a continuation, Demokratischer Widerstand could also face a ban. It is not yet clear whether Näncy is a one-time special edition, or whether new issues will be published in the future.
